Flock
by gymnastgirlflips
Summary: This story takes place after the book "Fang". Fang left the flock to let Max be at her best Maxness... but does he have a mission too? Flips and Flobie, A couple of experiments at a School, find out just what Fang's intentions are now that he's alone.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Escape

Blood coursed down my cheeks as I fell to the gravel. Struggling for consciousness, I rolled over to try to stand back up just to be kicked right in the gut.

"Pathetic!" He roared. The gravel crunched under his enormous wolfy feet as he walked towards me. "You freak! You're just a mistake, a stupid pointless mistake!"

I winced as he grabbed me off the ground and threw me another couple feet. This is just what I needed today- an execution. That sure does make life simpler. And shorter. Mason stood over me now, ready to sink his claws, literally, into my tightened throat.

"You know what's horrible?" he whispered peacefully, which was completely out of character for him.

"Yeah, your breath is horrible. Really, do you not brush your teeth?" I chuckled, my voice almost inaudible. It had been a long day full of agonizing pain; I barely had any energy left. It seemed like I didn't need much now anyways. I doubt dead people needed energy.

"No." he growled, picking me up and shaking me some more, then throwing me yet again, "It's that you worthless experiments always fail! But that's ok. It gives me someone to play with." A shiver danced up my spine. I wasn't up for a game of tag right about now.

"Well, the only game I'd like to play is hide and seek. You count first, I know you can't count past two to save your life but you just try your very hardest." I said in a little kid voice, somehow still able to achieve sarcasm. I'm just one tough cookie!

"The only game I want to play is 'Kill the Freak'," he chuckled, barely able to keep up his little game. He looked like he was going to lunge towards me. I braced myself. Any second now the end would come. "Now I'm bored of talking, it's time for you to die!"

He basically flew at me, he was so fast. I had enough time to stumble out of the way, falling onto my already bruised knees in the process. With his momentum Mason ran right into a nice solid kick in the shadows of the building.

"Not going to happen! No one ever told me it was game night. I wanted to play "Kill the Freak" too! Have you not looked in the mirror recently, Mason?" Flobie winked at me as she emerged from the shadows, completely relaxed about the whole "fight to the death" scene. I sighed in relief. Flobie was always there to save my butt.

Mason yelled in frustration, already recovered from the kick to the face. "Fine then, double prizes for me!" He started hurtling towards us, but we were already halfway across the field sprinting.

We could run faster than humans, but apparently not faster than an Eraser. He had almost reached us a mere ten seconds later. His dark, long shadow already stretched upon us, making it feel like we were already within his claws. Talk about pressure for winning the race.

"Grab my hand," Flobie whispered, already reaching across to meet me. As soon as we grasped hands, I felt a weird sensation that felt like being pulled at the speed of light through space and back again in a split second. Gasping, I fell to the ground completely worn out. Instead of gravel, it was soft grass.

"Flobie, where are we?" I groaned, barely able to keep my brain functioning. I looked up to see stars. Well, the stars in the sky as well as stars dancing around my head. We were right by the beginning of a forest; the only sounds were the wind and our panting.

She stood very still, rubbing her temples. "Uh, I don't know. I think I just got a new skill."

I gave her my "You think?" look and closed my eyes again. "Well considering we're in the middle of nowhere I'd have to say yes."

"So... I guess I can teleport even with extra people? Wow, well, I think I'm going to faint or something now. I'm dead tired." Her legs, which had already been shaking, gave in as she fell next to me.

"That's an understatement." I said, finally giving into my head's screaming desire to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Freedom- The Avian American Dream

I woke up the next morning, surrounded by trees. Flobie was nowhere in sight, but by looking at the newly lit fire and heaping pile of berries she had been here recently. I ate the berries without complaint. My stomach had basically never been near full of any kind of food. Let's just say where I was raised didn't care how healthy I was.

Obviously the School didn't care about me dying either. Apparently I wasn't very important. If I wasn't so important you'd think they'd let me possibly go to a normal school, or maybe know who my parents are, or hey- this is a crazy one, live in something besides a dog crate! But I guess I'm just not that good of a person to be respected. Not even fully human, so maybe people should just call me a freak. Yep. That's me, Flips. My real name is Emma, but only rarely do the scientists call me my real name. They usually call me "Subject 11". Pretty fancy!

So are you still pretty shocked about the whole "not fully human" comment? Well, we're not human, it's true. We have some bird DNA thrown in with our human DNA, resulting in Flobie and I being bird kids. Also fancy. And it's also insane. Pretty much our entire lives till about 3 this morning we've been living at the School, a horrible lab where scientists create DNA recombinants and do gross and totally abusive experiments to them. I don't even know how I can put a whole sentence together sometimes considering how much I've been through.

The only other experiments that were successful are the Erasers; at least that we've ever seen. Who knew a human with some wolf DNA mixed in could be such a nightmare? They work for the School, usually as our baby sitters as well as our punishers if we don't listen. We aren't the best listeners, unfortunately.

A big difference between the Erasers and us is how long life expectancy is. They usually last about 5 years while Flobie and I are 16, which is ancient for the School's experiments that usually don't last a week.

But yeah, Flobie just got a new power and I'm not complaining. Maybe we are in the middle of nowhere, but at least no one is pricking at me with needles and making me completely sick just to see how my body reacts. But now Mason will definitely come looking for us, although it might take him awhile to count to two.

A half an hour later Flobie returned with a backpack in hand. She sat down on the grass besides me and started taking out snacks.

"Wow, what is all this stuff, how'd you find it?" I asked, already biting some sort of granola bar thing. It was amazing!

"Um, there are hikers a couple miles away from here. I really don't like stealing but what else can we do? Die?" she said, looking at the ground not at all liking the fact that she took from someone. She had such a big heart considering the people who made her were so evil.

"Awe, Flobie, don't worry about it. I mean, I don't think stealing is great either but we have to survive. Apparently that's why they made us anyways. All they talked about to us was surviving in the world, not that we've ever been outside the School before."

"Whitecoats are too evil to listen to, Flips. Don't ever listen to Mason either because he's full of lies. I should know." She pointed to her head, indicating hearing his thoughts at will. Shocked by that too? Might want to get used to it, we're some talented kids.

"So when did you learn you could teleport?" I asked, my mouth spewing crumbs everywhere.

"Well last night when I heard your thoughts about dying I kind of teleported out of my dog crate and into the courtyard. I'm not sure how, but I guess your urgency for me just took over my freakish instincts? Who knows? Nobody does! Not even the humans that created us know, as twisted as they are." Flobie answered, not even sounding happy about her new skill.

"I sure am glad you did get a new skill, Flobie. And now we are free!" I stated.

"Free at last, free at last!" she agreed wholeheartedly.

"Yeah, well, what is the plan now? Fly away from here? Anything but go back, I'd rather live in a sewer system or something." I replied, already picturing it. Home sweet home!

"Well, I say let's get out of the country. We're in America, right? What other countries are there? Geeze, they never taught us anything there."

"Let's fly east, anywhere east." I stated, feeling the rightness of the direction.

After breakfast we took off, our wings extended to their full sizes. Wings! To fly with! It still shocked me, and what really got to me was we were free. We weren't starving, we weren't in crates, we weren't being experimented on, but we were free to do whatever we want. On the run of course, but it was way better off that way.

At the School they had only seen if we could fly, but never taught us how. So much for instincts, they just strapped electrocuting collars on us if we disobeyed orders. We got to go out to the field where Mason had almost killed me and fly, but only once a year or so ever since we were about 5. We were still choppy on the "how to fly" thing, but we would get the hang of it.

In the air we got a good look around at where we were. We definitely could tell where the School was, and to our disappointment we could still see the huge building with our raptor vision. Yes, we have better sight than humans too. Just pretend we ate our carrots at dinner time every night.

Considering the School was so close, we flew as fast as we could by catching air currents to cruise a few miles faster. I'm guessing that we could go over 100 miles when we were flying and almost 200 when we tucked our wings in and dived towards the ground. Flying beats a car ride any day. It was amazing to be out of the School, but it was also horrible to be so close with Mason tracking us. Fortunately he can't attack us in the air.

"So considering we don't know anything except English and we have no resources besides the clothes off our backs, how the heck are we supposed to survive?" Flobie questioned, yelling above the wind.

"Uh, instincts? Maybe we'll find a bunch of worms and build a nest in a tree if we go too crazy." I snickered, already picturing us in a fifty foot tree. Good thing I have a sense of humor, or I would probably be losing what was left of my sanity a bit more.

"Seriously, how are we going to get food? Are we going to live on the run, or underground, or just in hiding, what?" Flobie rambled persistently, always wanting to know the plan.

"I don't know, Flobie. We have to adapt somehow though. Survive. Maybe we can get jobs or something and live in a motel with cockroaches all over the floor and keep our identities secret in some huge town far away from here."

"I'm not a fan of cockroaches, how about crickets?" she smirked.

"Whatever floats your boat."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:Sore from Soaring

A couple hours later my wings felt like lead blocks. We'd never flown for more than a couple minutes at a time before and never higher than a hundred feet; it was exhilarating. Regardless, I was about to drop out of the sky, which would be horrible considering we were thousands of feet in the air. I absolutely hated having less endurance than Flobie, but I was starving and there wasn't much I could do about it, being the wimpy bird kid that burns calories at the speed of light that I am.

"Flobie! I need to land, I can't take it anymore!" I yelled over the rush of the wind.

"Great, I almost gave you that satisfaction of winning myself." she smiled weakly, angling her wings to start descending.

After circling to check for danger, we landed with wobbly legs in a small clump of trees to avoid being seen by humans. We seemed to be in an unpopulated area. There were still plenty of trees around, but I could tell it was becoming more barren each mile we traveled.

"Seems like all the food is out," I whined as Flobie stuffed the last of her share in her mouth. She blinked in acknowledgement, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunks. "We'll have to go to the nearest town and stock up. Is there anything else in the bag?"

"Besides the jackets that we're wearing to hide our wings and this green paper, I think its called money, there's nothing in here." Flobie reported.

After a couple hours of sleeping that afternoon we forced our exhausted selves into the air and kept flying east. Soon we could see paved roads and city lights. Finally, I'd get to see my first human that's not a scientist and wanting to experiment on me!

"Well, this is exciting." Flobie said nervously. We were standing outside the cities limits fidgeting with our jackets. It's a good thing those hikers were big; we needed baggy clothes to cover our wings. Our wings, even though they were 14 feet across, could still be folded neatly against our backs. You could hardly tell that we were different besides the fact that it was boiling hot outside and we were wearing the only ones wearing jackets.

"We'll be fine." I whispered, stepping onto the cement side walk past a sign that said "Welcome to Alpine, Texas!"

First we went inside a casual diner. It wasn't the cleanest place in town and not the busiest, which suited me just fine. We hopped into a booth, waiting for something to eat to just appear right in front of us. Instead a lady walked slowly over with two menus under her arm, a notepad and pen in her apron pockets.

"What can I get you girls?" she asked, her blonde hair getting in her eyes as she handed us the menus and gave us a minute to decide. She looked up from her now open notepad and smiled at us encouragingly, probably wanting a big tip. Ah, our first non-scientist human interaction!

"Um, I'll have a cheeseburger with fries, a quarter-chicken with mashed potatoes, and two shakes- one vanilla and one chocolate." I looked up at her as she stopped writing my order because I had listed so many things off the menu. She raised an eyebrow. "We're waiting for some friends to come meet us here. I hope they make it soon." I peered through the glass walls, pretending to search for our friends. The only 'friends' I was on the lookout for were Erasers.

"I guess I'll just have the same as her. I bet Brittany would love that too. Don't you think so, Abby?" Flobie directed towards me, knowing I would have no idea that she was talking to me. She continued to have an innocent expression on her face.

"Sure does." I answered after a slight pause. The waitress was busy writing our huge list down. We sat as still as statues, having no idea how to act like normal humans.

"I'll have it all out as soon as I can." She gave one last fleeting glance back at us before heading to the kitchen to put in our order.

I gave a sigh of relief. We didn't know much about human behavior, but we did know humans didn't eat as much food as we did. Since we have such a fast metabolism; we have to eat about 5,000 calories a day. At the School they never fed us normal food. Well, normal for Americans. We had fruits, vegetables, bread, and meat. I think I've had ice cream once a couple Christmases ago when a whitecoat had decided to spread the joy of the season instead of being a Scrooge.

Flobie and I sat in silence, watching the street outside. Every shadow seemed to hold a threat. The diner was silent besides the occasional noises from the kitchen. Despite how calm it seemed, it still made me antsy. The only things making me feel better was Flobie's mind reading for potential threats and that food was on its way.

About ten minutes later Flobie saw the waitress coming back with the food and decided we should put on a show. When she was nearing our table Flobie exclaimed. "Awe, Brittany and Tom can't make it! They just sent me a text saying that their parents grounded them for not coming straight home today after lunch."

"That's too bad. Well, I guess we'll just have to try and eat all their food." I replied as glumly as I could, trying not to smile. I looked up to see the waitress setting a tray of savory goodness down right in front of us. Ah, I could practically see a shining ray from Heaven lighting the food, making it look even more delectable.

She placed the plates in front of us and commented "It's too bad your friends couldn't make it. I hope you enjoy all this food. Good luck eating it all!"

I couldn't even say thank you because my mouth was being stuffed with everything I could get my hands on. I hadn't ever been able to eat whatever I wanted to before. It was amazing! I could tell Flobie was trying to remain as mannerly as possibly but failing. The food was just too good to let it sit there.

In the next couple minutes we finished our burgers and moved on to the chicken. It's a good thing the waitress wasn't checking up on us because we would have grossed her out. We looked like Great White sharks in a feeding frenzy.

With bones being the only thing left on the plate, we moved onto the shakes. I have to say they were my favorite part. Flobie looked like she was drinking pure bliss, closing her eyes and sucking it down like there was no tomorrow. Maybe because there wouldn't be.

We set down the tall glasses and wiped our mouths on the napkins, finally full. We leaned back in the booth, sighing contently. The waitress returned, coming to a standstill a couple feet away from our table.

"Did you really eat all that food?" she quickly questioned before clearing her throat and saying nicely. "Is that all for you, ladies?"

"That's all." Flobie stated, sitting up to look more presentable. I stayed leaned back, not caring.

"Here's the bill then. Enjoy your night." She said, smiling again. It didn't reach her eyes; the mystery of the disappearing food still bothered her as she hurried back to the kitchen.

"What's the damage?" I questioned, waving my hand for the bill.

Flobie's eyes had widened, not comprehending the number. "It was thirty five dollars for all that food!" She looked around, trying to find the waitress. As if it were going to be the wrong bill or something, I thought, looking around at all the empty tables surrounding us.

Flobie decided to rummage through our packs, looking to see how much money we had. She placed every bill she had on the table as well as the coins. I decided to count it all up.

"It adds up to be a total of $36.53." I announced. Flobie sighed. "I guess we're all out of money now. The rest is a tip." She nodded, putting it all in the little folder and standing up to gather our bags. We both made sure our jackets were secure and headed out the door.

We walked along the sidewalk by the glass windows, passing the waitress getting the booklet where we sat. Flobie sent me a thought _She thinks we're lousy tippers. _


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Informed

Out of money, we decided to just roam around for awhile. We didn't have any leftover cash to buy food for later and knew we couldn't stay here for long, still being close to the School.. If anything bad happened we would grab hands and Flobie would teleport us to safety.

We walked down the sidewalk in silence. Most buildings were turning off their lights, going out of business for the evening. We came to a stop at a public park on the corner of a street. I sat on a bench while Flobie looked in the nearby trashcan to see if anything useful had been thrown away. Yes, it is as disgusting as it sounds.

"Flips come look at this quickly." Flobie whispered, angling a dirt-covered magazine so that I could see it from behind her. The street light above us was about to die, but with our enhanced vision we could still see the small words on the page. It read:

STOP THE MADNESS!

"Maximum Ride, age 15, and her flock (Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel) seem to have done it all! And what's more- a new flock member has appeared. Dylan had joined Max's cause to stop global warming and to help the world become a better place. They recently visited…"

I lowered my eyes to find a section full of photos. It included a picture of Max. I almost gasped when I saw her. She had her wings out extended behind her back and her expression made the phrase "if looks could kill" pop into my head, but not because she wasn't pretty. Max looked extremely tough and ready to fight anyone who challenged her.

"So there are more bird kids out there? I concluded, shocked by the odds.

"Seems like destiny to me." Flobie winked, looking thrilled as she continued to admire the picture of Max.

"Me too." Mason agreed from behind us. He grabbed our heads and knocked them together before we could even flinch in reaction to his strange appearance. We sunk to the ground and slipped into unconsciousness.

"Ugh!" I started, slamming my face into metal bars, figuring out I was being held hostage in a cage. My vision fell fuzzily on Flobie who was lying next to me, stirring slightly.

"What happened?" Flobie mumbled. Her swollen face looked confusion.

"Awe, the little freak princesses are waking up!" Mason teased as he paced back in forth in front of our cage. It was only big enough to hold us lying down without sitting up, as I had already demonstrated. Our wings were pinned down uncomfortably since we were laying on them. A tingly feeling ran through the muscles because they fell asleep.

"I thought the story was supposed to have a cute little frog to kiss us awake, not a hulking wolf mutant. You need to read the story again, Mason," I retorted, putting as much anger into my statement as possible.

Mason ignored me and continued, "The scientists weren't happy to find you gone on a field trip. They are very curious about your new teleporting abilities."

I was already communicating with Flobie nonverbally and was hardly paying attention to what Mason was saying.

_Hey- can't you teleport us out of here now? _I asked her.

_No Flips, I'm having a hard time even talking with you like this. My thoughts are very muddled right now. Sorry._ Flobie replied weakly. Rats, can't blame a girl for trying to escape her doom.

"Anywho, the whitecoats told me that they should be here shortly to experiment with your new ability. It might require them to open you up and take a look, but I'm sure you'll be fine with that." Mason threatened, chuckling as he saw our eyes widen in fear. His claws slid across the outside of our cages, making a screeching noise. "This may be goodbye for good. I won't miss you." And with that cheery thought he stalked out of the room, slamming the lab door shut.

"Greeeat." I stated. We must have been passed out for awhile. True fear started crawling through every fiber of our bodies. Maybe normal kids don't think it's possible to be in agonizing pain everywhere at once, but it is. We'd been through experiments too many times to count, and every time there was a huge possibility it would be our last one. This time we were sure it was.

After Mason left it was easier to get our bearings and look around. We were at the School of course, back in the same lab we were in practically every day of our lives. It seriously needed a refurbishment. The walls were completely white except for a few scuff marks that Flobie and I had made when we were putting up hopeless fights. There was a desk against the opposite wall of our cages by the door that held piles of notes and some unused syringes. We had to stare at those needles all day, every day.

We sat in silence for awhile, not bothering to say our thoughts out loud. It looked like we were never going to be free from the School.

_Flips? I think there's something going on outside. I hear people's thoughts going crazy and then disappearing completely as if they're blacking out. _Flobie warned me, gripping the bars of the cage tightly above her.

_It must be trouble._ I tried to shake my muscles out, preparing for whatever was coming. We'd had experience with fighting, let me tell you. The White Coats had put us through many tests of endurance and strength, forcing us to fight Erasers. It was either death from losing a fight or death from insubordination. There weren't any other options in this place.

A couple of minutes later we heard more motion outside the door and then the turn of the handle. Flobie held her breath as a blood splattered boy walked into the room.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Our Hero

He unlocked our cages quickly. Crawling out, I was about to punch him when Flobie caught my eye and shook her head. Hmm, so who was this guy? He was taller than me and looked about our age. He had black hair that flopped over his eyebrows slightly and touched the top of his ears. His matching black eyes were calculating as he looked at us, motioning for us to follow him down the hallway.

"We have to hurry, the Erasers are coming. Can you both fly out of here alright?" he asked as he sprinted. He seemed very calm and very in control, as if he'd rescued jail birds from scientists before. Considering he knew we could fly, that was probably true.

"Yes, we're fine. We're also ready for a fight if it comes to one." Flobie called out while we ran down the hall way avoiding all sorts of medical equipment that we hated. Chills shot through my body and my skin crawled just looking at it.

We burst out of the last door of the huge maze without any problem. Of course, it was a trap. Every Eraser at the School was in the courtyard waiting to ambush us. Some still looked completely human. Half were partially morphed with their teeth and claws becoming longer and their bodies hairier. This wasn't going to be fun.

"Up and away, now!" the rescue guy commanded. A little confused, we shot into the air as fast as possible. Note to self- practice take offs. They were very messy. Flobie and I almost fell out of the sky as we saw the teen that opened our cages rush past us with his own fifteen foot long wing span. So, he wasn't a knight in shining armor, but I preferred wings anyway.

All the Erasers were distracted for a couple seconds, looking up at us and wondering where the extra prey had come from. After that the air was full of bullets. I felt them shoot past my wings, barely missing. We made it out of range, scrambling to go higher and faster. We were all silent as the School was left behind in the sunset, looming eerily on the horizon far longer than it should.

About an hour after our escape Flobie and I stumbled to a stop on the ledge of a cliff that the unknown hero had led us to. His landing had perfect balance and timing, making him look far superior to us. We'd have to practice the landings as well.

"Thank you," Flobie breathed heavily as she sat down on the edge, leaving her wings stretched out to cool off.

"Sorry pal, but before I say thanks I want to know who you are and why you freed us from the School." I demanded, glaring into his black eyes.

"I'm Fang. Sorry that I hardly said anything to you both before, the reason I came to that God forsaken place was to free you, not talk about the weather." He answered, brushing dirt off of his jeans as he stared right back at me with the same intensity. Everything about him just screamed "Don't mess with me".

_Oh, he must know Maximum Ride. His name was in that magazine we were reading. It's not really a name many people have… you know? _Flobie reminded me. _I wonder what he's doing away from his flock. _

Besides Flobie and I telling him our names, we sat in silence for a couple of minutes, letting our adrenaline fade and our hearts slow down.

"Well that was fun." Fang commented, taking a seat on a comfortable rock further in the cave. We followed him inside and saw that he had made camp here already. A couple of backpacks were against the wall with some of its contents spilling out. Food, water, and a laptop caught my eye.

"Like you've never been captured by Erasers," I rolled my eyes.

"At least I lasted two years after escaping the School before even having to go back, which was for a different rescue mission. Recently I haven't had any trouble with anyone even though I'm famous."

Flobie, who has been watching us back and forth, coughed "Actually Fang, it seems to me like those two years don't count because Jeb, the scientist who rescued you, was a traitor. Sorry, I read minds. It's a hobby."

"Great. And I thought Angel was the only one." Fang sighed, looking irritated. Flobie, on the other hand, looked ecstatic about her and Angel's shared skill.

"If we are such a big pain, then why did you bother to rescue us in the first place?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You're bird kids. It feels like my job to set you free. Wow, déjà vu," he almost whispered the last part, his black eyes gleamed a hint of gold. Flobie and I exchanged looks, but the gold had disappeared by the time we looked back. "You both need to learn how to live without attracting unwanted attention and how to stay away from trouble. It seems like you don't have any experience with living outside the School so it would be in your best interest to let me teach you." The guy had a point.

"What if we don't want to stay here?" I replied stupidly. I really need to learn how to think before I speak.

_We can trust him! _Flobie mentally yelled to me. _Don't worry, he's the real deal._

Before Fang could answer, Flobie chimed in, "Ignore Flips, she just doesn't like to seem helpless. We'd love for you to teach us anything you know."

Fang glanced at me before saying "Fine. I'll take first watch. You both need your rest, class starts tomorrow." He stood up to go sit even nearer to the mouth of the cliff cave, the smallest hint of a smile loomed on his face.

_What's first watch?_ I asked Flobie through my thoughts.

_It means we sleep in turns. He's going to make sure no one comes and sneaks up on us. _Flobie replied.

_Oh. Maybe we really do need this training._ I managed to admit. I fell asleep watching Fang's still silhouette gradually become outlined by the stars.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Learning From a Pro

After sleeping a good full night's sleep of about three hours Flobie woke me up to take the last watch. Let me tell you, it was boring! Listening and watching the peaceful world around you is just too relaxing. I almost fell asleep, which if anything would have happened we would have all been in a lot of danger. Oh well, I'll work on it.

Finally it was close to sunrise when Fang popped open his eyes, grabbed a backpack, and said, "Let's roll."

We took off, us girls in the back flapping hard to keep up. He was like a rocket compared to us! His wings moved slowly, stroking the air powerfully. Fang slowed down from his light speed travel, looked at us falling behind, and sighed. "Look," he said as we followed his line of sight, "That's how I learned to fly more easily."

Huge hawks about a hundred feet below us were dancing in the sky. We stared down in awe as they circled and looped around gracefully, not a care in the world, no fear of dropping right out of the sky like Flobie and I had dealt with since we started flying. "We'll never make it anywhere fast enough if you can't fly as fast as me, so you might as well start practicing now," he instructed, already diving downward towards the hawks. Flobie and I followed reluctantly, eyeing the huge intimidating birds.

They seemed alright with us joining their small group, allowing us into their air space without a problem. They flew especially close to Fang as if he were a part of their flock.

Fang started off teaching us how to change directions quickly, saying it had saved him many times from being chased by flying Erasers and Fly Boys. (Apparently Fly Boys are flying robots that look like Erasers. Who knew?) We learned about how to angle our wings in different ways to catch thermals to increase speed and save energy. He even demonstrated to us how to take off and land more easily. We practiced and it helped save us from embarrassing ourselves from falling over or face planting on every landing in the future.

We flew for an hour or so, and it already felt smoother and more natural. I looked over at Flobie and her smile was fully stretched across her face. I'd never seen her smile like that before. Flying did seem to give a new sense of power and happiness to all three of us. The sky could possibly be anyone's happy place, especially because it was so peaceful and vast.

Of course my sarcastic comments popped out occasionally, earning me glares from both Flobie and Fang. For some reason I felt like Fang's glare would soften occasionally, as if trying to decide to take to heart everything I said. All I knew is that I need to grow up and think before I speak like most normal people. Not that I'm normal, but I might as well try to be less irritating.

Knowing it'd be reckless to stay in the same place, we decided to grab our bags and fly to another cave a couple miles away. This one was even more secluded. The entrance was covered by long vines, making it the perfect place to stay for the night.

By that night we'd devoured all of Fang's food. It was comforting to know he probably ate even more than we did even though he was younger than us. I'd have to say he was messier too, which I only noticed because it was amusing to see someone who seemed less normal that us two girls.

Knowing Fang for a little over a day I now knew a couple things about him:

He's not a talker. Unlike me, he can probably go days without saying a word.

2. He has a weird name. I wonder where a boy could ever get a name like that.

3. He's been alone for a long time and that could even be the cause of 1.

After dinner the three of us sat around the cave pretty far apart from each other. We all stared in opposite directions, not saying what was on our minds. I got tired of the silence soon after it started.

"So Fang, where's the rest of you flock?" I casually asked, pretending like I was just asking about the weather. Flobie and I had mentally prepared asking him about this since this morning, eager to find out more about who we were entrusting our lives with. Flobie, being much shyer than she let on, voted me to start the conversation.

He remained silent for a minute. "Who says I have a flock?" He said calmly in a way that made most people believe him immediately, as if he were completely truthful. Flobie and I knew better.

"The news does. Max, Iggy, Dylan, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel. Besides, you mentioned Angel already." Flobie answered, giving him a questioning look as he closed his eyes tightly shut at the mention of Dylan. More silence followed. Flobie and I refused to break it.

"Well, that's them. There's Angel, the little blonde mind reading girl who isn't so angelic anymore. The Gasman, Angel's older brother, who really has some problems with his digestive system. Nudge is the most talkative, computer smart, fashionable girl you could ever meet. Then there's Iggy, the blind cooking machine who loves to blow things up."

He paused to take a deep breath before continuing, "I think I could describe Dylan a little too well... And there's Max. She's the leader of the flock, the one who keeps it going, and the one who's supposed to save the world." With that he went to sit outside to take the first watch, leaving Flobie and I confused with Mr. Secret's burst of information.

_He's not going to trust us with his life's story. _Flobie answered my unspoken question that was had just been forming in my head. She always knew what I was thinking, sometimes before I even knew. _He's harder to read than you, Flips. I can't tell you about him, his thoughts right now are somewhat shut down, probably to keep me out. He's dealt with mind readers before. Besides, I shouldn't be reading his thoughts in the first place. _

_ It's for our own safety. _I pleaded with Flobie. _We have to make sure we can trust him. People can change from good to bad in a second, and I don't want to die because we made a stupid mistake. _

We fell asleep pondering what Fang said about his flock, and especially the angry tone he used when he talked about the newest flock member, Dylan. Was Max really supposed to save the world?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Burden

I had the middle watch, so I got to go back to sleep after I was relieved of duty. In the morning I woke up to see our cave empty. Flobie and Fang were nowhere to be seen and the backpacks were gone as well, meaning the cave floor was as bare as my hope that I wasn't alone in this lonely, barren world.

I mentally reached out around me, yelling _Flobie!_

Immediately I heard the whoosh of her wings outside the entrance, the quiet sound of wings folding, and the vines slapping against each other as she entered the cave.

"What's wrong?" she scanned the room frantically, searching for potential enemies. All she found was me giving her a "deer in the headlights" look. She relaxed her stance. "Upset to find us gone? I was out practicing flying and Fang woke up early to go get more supplies. He didn't bother taking us along because he thought it would be more dangerous. Plus he didn't want to wake you up."

"I see." So that was a relief. I thought my little mini flock had flown away without me or gotten captured and I just wasn't worth dragging along in either situation. I can be dramatic in the morning, I guess.

Considering there was nothing to eat I decided to practice with Flobie. We took off, flying closer to the same hawks as yesterday. Their territorial grounds were miles long since they had such freedom in the air to go where they pleased. The air was crisp. I stretched my body and wings out as I flew, trying to make all of my sore muscles loosen and relax from yesterday's practicing. I was used to being sore and cramped at the School, so it wasn't a change to what I was used to.

Fang soon appeared with a formation of raptors behind him as he carried three heavy backpacks towards our hide out. I decided to leave Flobie's practice session to help carry the bags. I angled my wings to dive towards him, exhilarated with how the adjustment drastically changed my path. After seeing my outreached hand Fang hurled a backpack my way. I winced as I caught it. What did he fill this with, bricks? And he carried three of them by himself!

Fang went inside before I did; my already imperfect landing looking like it did yesterday before the first flying lesson because of the extra weight.

"So, how did shopping go Mr. Man of the House?" I smirked after I recovered and watched him empty delicious food from his backpacks.

"The teenaged girl at the cashier told me that I looked sadder than a heart broken vampire." He sighed as he set the last of the groceries on the floor.

"Considering I'm new to the whole 'freedom' thing, I have no idea what that means."

"Well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm just part bird instead of a vampire or else girls everywhere would want me to bite them all the time. Of course my name is Fang, so that doesn't help me very much." I could tell he usually didn't ramble like this, even though I had just met him.

"What's wrong?" I asked, finally trying to be polite and sincere, completely dropping the vampire talk. There's no figuring out the normal teenage girls. I was hopeless.

"Why do you care?" his voice had a steel tone in it; his eyes a hard black, "You don't ever act like you do. Just forget it ever came up."

I puckered my lips together, "No."

He sighed, "Well, too bad Flips. You don't always get your way. Haven't you figured that out yet?"

After a couple seconds, I gave up on my normal façade and threw caution to the wind. "You know Fang, you're right. Life isn't fair. It's just that… it feels like it hasn't been fair to you either._ I _haven't been fair to you. You saved us and I thank you with sarcastic remarks. I'm sorry." I paused to come up with more of an apology.

"I guess it takes awhile to warm up to people for me. Most of them either come at me with needles or claws. Flobie is ok at accepting new people since she can read their thoughts- I can't. I have to trust people the normal way."

He stood still for awhile, absorbing what I had said. "Wow, it must have taken you a lot to admit that."

"Now really… what's wrong?" I asked, scooting toward him a bit more. He finished unpacking the last of the groceries without a word.

He stared at me, looking straight into my eyes. I felt my cheeks flush and hoped he hadn't noticed. "You know, you act a lot like her."

Oh boy. "Who do I act like?" I almost demanded. How smooth was that!

"Max." He caressed the name gently, and his eyes softened. The way he said it almost sent butterflies to my stomach, and I was _not_ Max.

"Oh. I didn't know you guys… you know." I was pretty speechless considering I just apologized to Fang. I hardly apologize with such sincerity, especially when I was going to get a surprise like that in return.

"I left. It was better for all of us."

"Not for you." I retorted, being a lover of fantasy happy endings that only happened in fiction books and movies.

"Just another example of how life isn't fair." He threw back at me. I could tell he was done with the subject. I sure wasn't, but it would have to wait.

"Flips, dive!" Fang yelled as I lazily glided a thousand feet above the forest below. If I could jump in shock while flying, I would have then. I immediately dove as quickly as I could, sensing Fang following me closely.

I veered up at the last second before hitting the sea of trees that less than a minute before had looked like a patch of grass. My hair still streamed behind me as I landed on a jutted rock, panting.

Fang landed close by, still in deep thought. "You still need work on that. I thought you would run into a tree, but it's better than your first attempt." I grimaced. It was one of those moments in my life that I didn't want to relive. "Flobie, you're up. I'll watch from here. Practice what you learned about acceleration earlier as well before you dive."

She nodded, concentrating as she jumped in the air and started ascending to about the same altitude Fang and I were just at.

"Fang. "I simply stated. He kept looking at the sky, a hand over his eyes so he could see Flobie better. "Tell me more about Max. Please." He continued looking at the sky, as if looking for a sign. Apparently he didn't see anything so he gave up and stared at the ground.

"I feel like the past couple months I've tried to be more bird than human to block out the pain." He chuckled darkly," She's more to me than life itself. I've never talked about my feelings much, but being alone takes that out of you apparently." We both glanced up at the blue sky, watching Flobie glide far above us, practicing new maneuvers Fang had taught her. "I've known Max since we were kids in dog crates next to each other. I've always had her back and she's always had mine. Even when Jeb told her to save the world I did everything I could to help her.

"The thing is, I'm not sure exactly when, but we started to have feelings for each other. Max can handle anything, but our relationship started getting in the way of the rest of the flock's needs, as well as the world's. That's why I left. The flock needs her more than I do, and so does the world."

"I couldn't imagine letting her go to save the world and being so miserable." I frowned. Not that I had someone even close to what he had. The only person I cared about besides myself was Flobie, but in a different way. We were birds of a feather, practically sisters even though we weren't related.

"It wasn't easy. Life's a struggle, but I'm more used to it now." The usual silence followed, engulfing me in a wave of his sadness.

"Maybe the three of us could help speed up her saving the world mission?" I hated that he was so unhappy. If it was in the name of love I was pretty much up for anything anyways. It's not like I had my own mission to seek a holy grail or anything, so why not volunteer to save the world? Sounded like a good cause to me.

"If she knew I was trying to help her save the world without her knowing it, she would beat me to a pulp. I don't even want to know what she would think about doing if she saw you girls with me." He pointed at me, as if it were my fault. Max sounded like a goddess of war the way he talked about her. Fang was the toughest person I've met. This girl must be special, or out of her mind, to think she can save the entire world by herself. Flying, avenging mutant girl or not, just one person saving the planet seemed a bit extreme.

"At least you'd get to see her again before she killed you." I laughed, not sure if I should take him seriously about him dying or not.

"So… Flobie said you figured out Dylan, "he flinched at the name," was Subject 22? Alright, Max, you, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel are Subjects 1 through 6. Flobie and I are Subjects 11 and 12. Why in the world did they make so many of us?"

"I don't know but it seems to me like there are still 13 more bird kids out there. When I was with my flock we actually found one in New York, but she disappeared. What I really want to do is track every bird kid down. If it will help Max save the world I'd do anything." He sounded so committed. He'd risk his life for Max without her even knowing.

"We'd love to help," Flobie offered as she landed near us from her perfect dive. Flobie never gave up until she could do what's instructed in her sleep, which made me admire her. I usually lacked the perseverance, but this was very important. "Let's save the world so we can live in it with peace for once."

"I don't need convincing," I nodded, knowing it would be a long time before we could just live completely free to do whatever I wanted without having to worry about the world reaching some impending doom or being recaptured. I wasn't so convinced that finding 13 bird kids would be so easy, but it was worth a shot.

Fang turned to look at both of us, his eyes piercing with a glimmer of hope. "Let's get started, then."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Road Trips without the toll fees

"How are we going to figure out where all these bird kids are?" I complained, having the heroic and romantic affect wear off after thinking it through logically, "They could be anywhere in the world and I know they're specially guarded or secretly in hiding. It sounds impossible."

"Nothing is impossible" Flobie laughed, "Look at us!" She stretched out her wings, and I had to admire their beautiful color. Her primary and secondary feathers along the bottom are white while the top coverts are a nice, warm dark chocolate color.

"We may have to break into some Schools. They're sure to have files about each and every one of us." Fang stated. "There's actually one nearby, and it's not the one we just came from."

"Where is it?" Flobie and I asked at the same time, staring at a United States map.

"Orlando, Florida" he practically mumbled, knowing we'd find it on the map soon enough. Our eyes traced the whole of Texas not finding Orlando. Fang was packing our backpacks up as he waited.

"What, that's so far away! Are you crazy?" I yelled, finally finding out it was states away. He smiled, which almost made me start literally steaming.

Enjoying our growing panic, he gloated, "Look at the world map. I've flown across the entire North Atlantic Ocean in one trip. My flock flew from Europe back over to America. Even Angel did and she's 7. It's possible to fly a couple states with some rest stops. You'll get your endurance up soon enough. I'll make sure of it. Besides, during the trip I can make sure you learn more about survival."

Good for Angel. Rub it in our faces… a mere child could fly across an ocean without stopping. He made it sound like such a small world… hey. An idea popped into my mind and I had to force myself not to smile.

Flobie frowned, still staring at the map. She traced our route with her index finger, smoothing out the paper.

"Fine, let's fly to Florida." I agreed, shocking Flobie and Fang that I was being so easily convinced, "On one condition though." Fang hunched his shoulders and looked up at the sky impatiently, and I'm guessing he thought something incredibly funny because Flobie giggled.

"What?" He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I want to go to Disney World." I jumped off the small boulder I was sitting on with enthusiasm, crossing my arms over my chest, daring him to argue with my condition.

"Well, you guys haven't ever had a vacation have you? I guess you deserve one." He agreed to my demand, not even reluctantly I might add.

I ran over to hug him, too happy to see he had turned into a statue as soon as I embraced him. "Thanks Fang! I've wanted to go there ever since Flobie showed me some memories she picked up about it years ago from a White Coat." He wiggled out of my grip and went to sit at the mouth of the cave. I looked questioningly at Flobie.

_He's not a person who hugs a lot if you haven't noticed Flips. Seems like the only person he didn't mind being close to was Max._

_ Flobie, the only person he _does _like being close to is Max. _I frowned as I watched Fang stare at the sky. _Hopefully we can save the world soon so he can go find her._


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Beignets for Everyone!

"What town is this anyway?" I asked, paranoid that we were on a congested sidewalk filled with people. No one was wearing lab coats, but seeing humans still made me antsy after Fang had drilled the dangers of the world into my head the past couple days.

"Erasers can be anyone, anywhere, so you better beware." No, Fang did not use rhymes to make us memorize things, but I find them very helpful. But yes, he did say something similar to that.

We'd flown over one state to Louisiana. Tall buildings with French architecture lined the streets. Beads dangled and danced from the balconies as the wind blew. I heard lively jazz music playing further down the street.

"New Orleans." Fang, being the most like Indiana Jones in our group, answered my question. He'd traveled all over the world and loved seeing new things. He didn't have huge boulders trying to squish him like Indie, but he had his own share of unique problems.

"It's beautiful." Flobie stared in awe at the town, taking in all the antique shops and classy hotels. It was the fanciest street we'd ever set foot on, not to mention the cleanest.

If it isn't obvious, the classiest place Flobie and I had ever stayed was a cave. The best food we'd ever had was at that diner right after escaping from the School, which is practically the only steaming delicious food we'd ever eaten. It blew our minds how carefree the rest of the world seemed compared to us.

"So why are we here, Fang?" I asked, getting right to the point. He had picked up a discarded tourist booklet off the ground and was paging through it silently.

"We're here to learn about this city. I want to try to see more of the world and see why it's worth saving." He said without looking up.

"Well I know they're not even going to let us into most the places on this street." I looked up at the street sign that read Royal Street. Considering how much dirt was clinging to our clothes and how our hair piled in ruffled heaps on our heads, we did not even look like we belonged here. Royal was one of the last words anyone would use to describe us.

"You're so negative, Flips. Well Fang, where are we headed? I'm ready to get some knowledge." Flobie was almost shaking with excitement. She loved learning.

"We're going to a cemetery." Fang simply informed us and started walking in what I assumed was the right direction to where hundreds of dead people were buried. It took me and Flobie a couple seconds to recover from Fang's tourist destination choice. We stopped gaping at his retreating form before running to catch up with him.

"Cemetery? I thought we were trying to _avoid_ death." I commented, and started to fidget with my windbreaker. I thought we would maybe watch a live street band or go eat some gumbo and beignets.

"The cemeteries here are really popular because the city was built on a swamp. The deceased have to be buried above ground in stone crypts so they don't sink into the ground." Fang told us, maintaining his fast paced walk. He did a 360 scan, making sure no one was following us.

"How interesting." Flobie replied weakly, the color draining from her face. She was pretty fragile because of the tough conditions she'd had to live with, and death wasn't one of her favorite subjects. I mean, was death _anyone's _favorite subject? Seriously!

It took us a while to get to the nearest cemetery. I was somewhat surprised not to see storm clouds hovering threateningly over the property or a mangy dog running with its tail between its legs away from the main gate. Taking that as a good omen, we continued through the gate.

I could have gotten lost in that cemetery. Endless crypts of all different colors and sizes formed lines that looked like they continued for all eternity. The maze reminded me of the School's long white hallways. I shivered and shook my head to clear my nightmarish thoughts.

Not all the tombs were in good shape, but most looked simply amazing. Artwork covered the walls to honor the dead housed within. Meaningful quotes were chiseled onto the cold stone, somehow never fading with time.

Fang continued to lead our walk through the cemetery, stopping to read almost every word on the walls. I saw him once stop and trace his hand gently over a few words of remembrance. It made him pause thoughtfully before continuing his route. I went to investigate when he was finished, finding that the crypt read "I loved her most".

"So many people have passed away…" Flobie let her voice trail off as she stopped at the foot of an angel mausoleum.

The angel was a girl crying, leaning onto a podium for support. She hid her face from the world using her arm as a shield. Her glorious wings were extended slightly behind her; the tips of her wings nearly touched the ground. She looked so real that I was surprised I couldn't see her moving.

We all stood staring at the angel, speechless. Fang's black eyes looked softer than normal; a hint of gold sparkled in them. Flobie was close to tears, hugging her own side as if the angel could be comforted by her actions. She reminded us all of the same thing- of the sorrow we all felt for what the scientists had made us into, of how we were different from normal people, and of how much we would still have to suffer before our own end, no matter if it was near or far away.

"It looks like she's mourning your deaths." Mason remarked from behind us.

We whipped our heads around to see ten Erasers lined up behind us, forming a blockade so we couldn't escape into the street of tombs. Mason stood front and center, smiling at us, showing his disgusting teeth.

"Are you here to put flowers on your brain's grave? Oh, that's right. You never had a brain." I felt the venom in my words, hoping they would hurt him. Mason didn't even flinch.

"Nice comeback." He said sarcastically. "Unfortunately nothing can save you from returning back to the School with me."

_We can take them. Do an up and away if things go badly. _Flobie sent me, who had already discussed a plan of action with Fang. I was always the perfect distraction.

I almost said 'over my dead body' to Mason, but thought better of it considering we were in a cemetery. Instead I yelled and launched my body at him with my foot aimed at his chest. He was ready, holding out his hairy arms to better protect himself. On impact, I merely made him stagger back a couple steps. He probably outweighed me by one hundred and fifty pounds.

Chaos had started around me and Mason by that point. Fang had taken out three Erasers in under a minute, being the most lethal fighter in our group. He jumped on top of a crypt and plowed his feet into the head of an Eraser, making his hairy body knock into his comrade behind him like living dominos.

Flobie, being too gentle natured, still had problems with fighting even if it was to save her life. For some reason she seemed to be fine with the violence today. She was already on her second Eraser, blocking all of his punches easily using her mind reading. She kicked his snout and then aimed her fist at his temple. He immediately crumpled to the ground. I guessed she wanted to protect the grieving angel statue.

I jumped off of Mason quickly, more than eager to put some distance between his razor sharp claws and my body. I laughed, "You'll have to move faster to catch me!"

Unfortunately he followed my advice, slashing the air right in front of my face. Startled, I hit my back against a tomb; making pieces of rock erode away by the force. Now he'd made me mad.

Exhaling, I threw a punch right at his muzzle, making him snarl on impact. His lips pulled away, showing huge teeth that looked like they belonged in an alligator's mouth. Knowing he would recover in a millisecond I sprinted towards Flobie, my heart pounding quickly from the adrenaline boost.

"U and A! Now!" Fang commanded, spreading his black wings. Flobie and I followed his lead, jumping into the air at the same time. We ascended into the empty blue sky.

I saw a small flash from below and panicked, "Is that a gun?"

The three of us scattered in the sky, making sure no one could hit us with any kind of projectile.

"It's worse than a gun." Fang's jaw tightened in irritation. "It's a tourist with a camera."

This had to be the weirdest adventure in the world. We had just escaped a cemetery because wolf-like mutants had just threatened to kill us, which was ironic enough. Then we flew like, well, angels away to what all the tourists thought was Heaven. Isn't life the craziest?

"Well, that's lovely. I can see it in the newspaper headlines now- three angels in New Orleans, watching over the dead." Flobie sighed as she coasted lazily on a thermal, looking tired and not at all like her usual cheerful self.

"It's better than becoming one of the dead." I used a serious tone, still mad that the Erasers had to come looking for us. "I wanted to look around and spend more time at the angel statue."

Fang nodded in agreement, never one to speak on his mind when he could avoid it. Flobie, on the other hand, replied, "I know what you mean. I really felt connected to her. Not just because of the wings, but because she just looked like she's seen as much sadness as we have."

I glanced over at Fang. He kept his face forward, set on getting away from our trackers. I didn't have the heart to tell him that that was impossible.

_No, that's not it._ _He's thinking of Max. Let him be._ Flobie intruded my train of thoughts gently.

We continued our flight east, and I knew we wouldn't be stopping for awhile.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

By the next morning we were somewhere close to the coastline of Mississippi. Who named that state? I'll give them five stars for creativity, but they didn't think of the emotional trauma it would cause the human avian hybrids of America whose reading levels aren't what they should be.

Flobie had, however, taught me how to read using the scientist's thoughts. That's pretty innovative for people who have never gone to a real school before. Hooked on mind reading worked for me! Still, Mississippi was one tough word to spell.

Fang had gone to find some food in a nearby town and refused to let us come along. Instead we were supposed to practice banking while flying. He left, thinking we would follow instructions that really could save our lives in a future battle.

Being the exhausted bird brains we were, we took the morning off. Flying was the most amazing experience in the world, it's true. The only negative thing about it, besides being called a freak, is that it consumes a lot of energy. Keeping your body suspended in the air isn't exactly a day in the park. Quite frankly, I'd never even been to a park before, so maybe I'm just full of baloney.

Flobie and I listened to our stomachs' growls intensify for about an hour. We sensed Fang would get back soon, so we launched ourselves into the sky and flew around, banking like crazy, looking as if we didn't know which direction we wanted to fly in. I'm sure if any bystanders were watching the sky they'd be laughing their heads off.

In less than five minutes Fang had come into view, a couple of bulging bags in hand. After descending he said, "You didn't practice."

Flobie had already stuffed a piece of bread in her mouth and looked at me for an explanation, guilt the main expression on her face. Well, I wasn't going to lie to Fang. "No. Would saying sorry help?"

Without saying a word he took out a newspaper with the day's date printed on it. He turned a couple pages and pointed to an article that read "Angels in New Orleans". It had a blurry picture of three blobs on it, streaking across the sky.

"I hope that tourist didn't pay much for that camera. What a horrible picture. It's more like 'Ghost in New Orleans', not angels." I lost interest in the article immediately. People wanted evidence, and pictures were their favorite kind despite how most pictures are taken through a round of editing in Photoshop first.

"We were still spotted and that means we can't take any fieldtrips anymore. I'm going to have to go to the towns by myself to avoid attracting attention. A lot of scientists and power-hungry people would die to get their hands on us. I'm not going to take any extra chances." His words left us in deep thought. To think so many people wanted to use us as weapons, as if we could destroy the world, was a lot to take in. I don't exactly see how we could destroy the world, so the fact that such powerful people were such idiots was also something to think about.

Then there were people who knew about genetic experiments such as ourselves and didn't want to use us to gain power just wanted us dead. I'd never had a desire to be a servant for an evil villain (even if I did get a cool, fashionable costume) or die to be out of the way for whatever plans a different evil villain had. Inside Door Three is Fang and his plan to work us to death to make sure we don't die. He's just so dang thoughtful.

"Well, we can still go to Disney World, right?" I slowly asked, not wanting to give up my vacation. I crossed my fingers behind my back for luck.

"If we're not spotted or tracked to Florida, sure." Fang looked me in the eyes, as if to warn me that there wasn't much chance that my vacation would happen. "I'm taking my time on this trip to get us there. It would have only taken me six hours or so to fly by myself. I'm still trying to teach you survival tactics, so it will take us a couple more days."

"Good to know we're slowing down." Flobie sighed, relieved. We'd been moving at a pretty fast pace.

I glanced at Fang. He smiled, amused with what Flobie had said.

I don't think the word 'slow' happens to be printed in Fang's dictionary. If it does appear, it must say "refer to the word 'fast' ". We were flapping our wings maybe three hours a day. We cruised from Mississippi to Alabama staying along the coast, and then we flew to Florida the next day.

Every waking hour was filled with things like dueling (ow), "How to Cook Like Fang" tutorials, including his "famous" roasted desert rat (ew), and comments the entire time about staying alive. It was almost unbearable.

Flobie and I were too tired to even complain. Our muscles were sore and gave out on us pretty often from being pushed to their limit so often. We slept like rocks. We did as he said, fixed what we could, and somehow managed to do the same thing every day. When we reached the Orlando area of Florida, Flobie sent me a picture of us hugging and both crying out of pure joy that the trip was over. I was too tired to even smile or nod in agreement.

Fang was never mean or aggressively commanding the entire time. I still thought he was a great leader. The only thing is every time he started talking I knew I'd have to do some horrible exercise to test my strength or my knowledge of survival that would haunt my thoughts forever. For such a quiet guy he sure struck a lot of fear into our hearts.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Nature and Giant Terrible Lizards

Fang, Flobie, and I had just taken our first glimpse of the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I've got to tell you, I've flown over a billion trees in the past couple days, but this one blew them all away. There were hundreds of animals carved into the tree which stood about two hundred feet tall. The smaller branches even swayed in the wind despite the fact that it wasn't even a real tree. Talk about attention to detail.

Flobie studied the maps from each of the theme parks as we continued to walk through the safari-like maze, her face contorted in concentration. "There's too much to do! I don't see how people can come here for only a few days. At least we know we can skip Soarin' over at Epcot. We already know what it feels like to fly."

"That's because we flew here in a plane." I spoke loudly enough for the other guests surrounding us to hear. I'm sure Fang would be testing my human skills. The people gave us a curious glance before walking away. Score one for the bird kids, fitting in!

"You guys are a piece of work." Fang stared at us, unblinking.

"Thanks." We smiled, answering in unison.

"Are you guys up for a blast from the past?" Flobie pointed to the Animal Kingdom map at the Dinosaur attraction.

I couldn't believe how many people were clogging up the paths. Disney World was for vacations to escape from the real world, right? Even though the Animal Kingdom was huge, tourists were everywhere. I didn't blame them for coming. I would have made the trip just to take a look at the Tree of Life.

We continued walking towards Dinoland U.S.A, passing under a dinosaur's skeleton. How creepy. We all started walking a bit faster, getting anxious.

"That's a Brontosaurus we just walked under. Well, really a Brontosaurus is the wrong name. It's supposed to be called an Apatosaurus, but for some reason no one does." Flobie said, reading a nearby tourist's thoughts about it.

"It must be nice having your own personal Wikipedia in your head." Fang said.

"The downside is I don't always know how accurate they are. Hey, can we sleep in the Tree of Life tonight? That'd be so awesome." Flobie's eyes sparkled as she pouted, wanting to sleep somewhere special. It'd still be a tree, but beggars can't be choosers.

"I had something better in mind. How about we stay in a hotel room with actual beds?" Fang smiled as we gasped.

"Have you been planning this all along?" I accused him, grinning.

"Well, considering the softest surface you've slept on is a dirt floor I think I can spare some money."

"Thank you so much Fang!" I exclaimed, bouncing up and down. Flobie looked like she was about to hug Fang, but we now knew he had an invisible personal bubble. Ah, to act like a normal 5 year old for the first time felt so good. Just to think all this excitement came just because we'd be sleeping in comfy _beds_ and not cramped _dog crates _or _cave floors. _

"You guys have been working hard this entire time. Remember- we're still going to break into the School after this mini vacation." He cautioned us as we walked up to the Dino Institute. "Till then let's just have a good time."

"That was amazing! I felt like I was really in the Cretaceous Period!" Flobie gushed as we exited the ride into the gift shop, excited about our little time traveling experience.

"It was epic." Fang agreed, scanning the area for the hundredth time to make sure Erasers weren't lurking behind the shelves full of dinosaur t-shirts and stuffed animals.

To catch you up to speed, on Dinosaur you board your own time rover and travel back in time to bring back a dinosaur with a fancy name I can't remember. Oh, did I mention that the meteor shower that supposedly wiped out the ginormous animals was about to impact during the expedition and that all of the dinosaurs lurk right over your jeep and that they moved, one of them even running after the jeep?

I'd have to say it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen in the world, although a little hard core for me and Fang. No, we're not wimps, but we are paranoid that things with claws and big teeth are going to attack us every second of the day. Plus it was extremely dark and you couldn't see your surroundings, and getting tossed up and down as if we were in a rodeo didn't help calm our nerves.

I looked at out souvenir picture that we could purchase. Even the adults seemed to be ducking down in their seats, trying to hide from the towering carnivore that had stood before us only minutes ago, roaring loudly enough to blast out our ear drums. I made sure no one in any of the changing pictures looked wolf-like.

"Chill, Flips. No one is here to get you." Flobie tapped me on the shoulder with a dinosaur puppet and winked. She'd already checked the room by listening to other people's thoughts. Even though that usually helped me a lot, I was still a little shaky and anxious.

I glanced at Fang who seemed to know what I was thinking. "Are dinosaurs a little too scary for you?"

"Ha, very funny Fang. You're such a comedian." I rolled my eyes, and turned around to see Flobie twirling around the gift shop having the time of her life. A couple of little boys wearing Mouse Ears gawked at her, trying to figure out how a teenaged girl was having so much fun with dinosaur toys.

"I'm all for moving to a different park." Fang stated, heading back outside.

"Some people just don't appreciate evolution." Flobie shook her head, jogging to catch up to me and Fang.

"The thing with evolution is that it shouldn't be messed with." Fang declared. Flobie and I both agreed with that.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Most Magical Place on Earth

"I'm walking right down the middle of Main Street USA!" Flobie sang loudly, marching along the cable car tracks that led down the center of Main Street at the Magic Kingdom.

I'll admit my eyes did get a little watery when I saw Cinderella's Castle elegantly sitting at the end of Main Street. Pictures, images from other people's thoughts for this matter, just don't do it justice. Fang seemed to look at it longer than I thought he would and let out an almost inaudible sigh.

_He came here with Max and the rest of the flock awhile back for a couple hours. _Flobie told me.

"Have you been here before, Fang?" I asked, trying to sound casual. I wanted to know more about Fang, but not by having Flobie look at his private thoughts.

"Yeah, I came with my flock. We only got to do a couple things on the left hand side of the Magic Kingdom." He motioned over to the Adventureland entrance which had a wooden bridge and lit tiki torches.

"Well, it looks like an adventure over there. I'm pretty sure we've all had enough adventure to last us a couple lifetimes. Why don't we go into Tomorrowland?" I really wanted to run over there. I could see mini rocket ships zooming around with people in them about a hundred feet in the sky. That's an attention getter.

"Let's go on Space Mountain." Flobie was looking at her map again and started leading us through the land of the future. Everything was structured creatively. Even the palm trees were made out of metal and glowed. Colorful signs about outer space and Tomorrowland attractions were everywhere. The Cast Members were even themed and had their clothes matching the attractions they worked at.

I even saw a trashcan zooming around and talking to guests, asking for their garbage to snack on. Little kids were _hugging_ it. I thought that us bird kids were weird, but then again we don't hug trash containers. Disney World really was its own strange planet. A strange, yet wonderful place.

"That thing better be clean." I whispered to Flobie, pointing at the trashcan that was now telling people to do the YMCA. It didn't have any limbs, but it lead the dance somehow.

"Oh yeah, Disney even uses a special underground trash system. Push, that's the talking trashcan's name, is perfectly clean. I just saw a bunch of cast members wiping down the normal trashcans." Flobie yet again amazed me with stolen knowledge, "Oh, Cast Members are what they call employees here because they're "on stage". I like that. I'd love to work here."

I smiled at Flobie's little fantasy dream, wishing it could come true as Fang commented, "It's amazing what these guys go through to put on a show."

After walking the whole of Tomorrowland, we came to a white building with spires mounting the top. Like the rest of the land it was hard to describe because of its eccentric style. We all eyed it with curiosity.

"It doesn't look like a mountain, but ok." I shrugged, glancing at the stairs we had to descend to get into Space Mountain's line. Small, dark, places weren't exactly on our top destination list. Living in a tight, cramped cage does that to you.

"Let's get in here before an Eraser decides to take a vacation. Besides, that trashcan really is freaking me out." Fang admitted as he began leading the way into the dark abyss.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: How to Annoy Fang

I cackled manically, "That was awesome! Who knew space travel would be so fun?"

"Let's ride it again!" Flobie cheered, skipping out of the gift shop to watch the Tomorrowland Speedway where cars reached a dangerous top speed of 3 miles per hour. They were sure to get a speeding ticket. Talk about road rage.

"Hey," I whispered to Flobie, "Let's get Fang to go on It's a Small World."

Fang was still inside the gift shop looking at all the pins they had. I didn't expect Flobie to go along with my plan considering getting a quiet, closed off guy like Fang to listen to one of the most repetitive yet famous songs in the world seemed pretty cruel. If you've never heard the song before, I feel sorry for you. Even I have heard It's a Small World.

"Alright. Ok, you hit his head with something heavy and then we'll carry his unconscious body onto the ride." She winked, then took my hand and led me over to Fang.

While I was searching my immediate area for something bulky Flobie sent me _I was just kidding, Flips. Honestly I thought you knew me better than that._

_ I was just kidding, too. Honestly I can't believe that you fell for that yourself. _I sent her, smirking. I wouldn't hit Fang unless I wanted to die a very slow and painful death.

"Come on Fang, we're going to see Philharmagic." Flobie yanked him away from a Star Wars display.

"Wow, the force is strong with this one." Fang said as he nearly tripped, being pulled towards the exit.

"You lied to me." Fang sourly said as he sat in our own private boat waiting to be sent off into a world of happy, singing dolls. I could practically see the steam coming out of Fang's ears as he tried unsuccessfully to hide his anger.

"It'll be good for you. It's only a couple minutes long, and who knows, maybe you'll like it." Flobie stuck to a positive note, smiling. She instantly turned away after looking at Fang's glare.

Almost feeling like sending an SOS signal above our boat due to tension, I said, "You can pick the next ride, Fang."

Our boat flowed with the current through scenes from all around the world and little audio animatronics singing in all different languages. It was adorable. Flobie hummed the tune softly, not wanting Fang to hear and send her another resentful look.

_If he knows it was your idea…_ she sent me, shivering. I couldn't help but chuckle at how dramatic she was being. Who else, besides one of us two, would have thought of this idea? Tinkerbell? It wasn't exactly hard to figure out.

We ended up in a huge room for the finale where all the dolls came together to sing, "It's a world of laughter, a world of cheer. It's a world of hope and a world of fear. There's so much that we share that it's time we're aware it's a small world after all!"

All of a sudden the lights turned off. We could still hear the dolls moving and singing gleefully. I couldn't tell if anything else had changed, but I sat up straight and shot both of my hands out to make sure Fang and Flobie were still next to me.

"You guys ok?" I whispered, trying to listen for threatening sounds.

"I'm fine, besides the fact that you almost took out my eye. Watch your hand." Flobie replied. Fang remained silent, making me feel around a little in the dark to find his shoulder.

I grabbed it and shook a little, "Are you ok?"

"…I think I did this." His voice was barely audible, as if the darkness was muffling his words.

"What? Well, can you turn the lights back on?" I looked around, not even able to see with my enhanced vision.

"I think a Cast Member is coming, you should hurry. Plus we're almost out of the room." Flobie reminded us. Our boat was already halfway through the finale.

"I'll try." Fang for once didn't sound very sure of himself.

We came out of the blackened room, our eyes adjusting. I sighed, "Oh well, I guess they'll fix the lights eventually. What happened?"

"I was mad that you guys dragged me onto that ride. I started thinking about how I never wanted to see those dolls ever again and right then the lights went out. It felt like I did it, like I can control darkness or something."

We remained silent, letting that sink in as we walked up the ramp to exit It's a Small World. Fang remained rigid, unable to relax. Joyful conversations continued around us outside. _So if it's a world of laughter, cheer, hope, and fear, why do we always have to be the ones in fear?_ I thought, worried about Fang.

"Maybe you got a new skill. Would you like to practice right now and see if you can really control darkness?" Flobie politely asked, perfectly ok with giving up her vacation just for Fang to practice turning off lights.

"No, I don't know what it is. Let's just go get some Mickey ice cream bars." Fang walked quickly away, his jaw muscles tight. I frowned, looking at Flobie for advice. She shrugged, unable to pick up on his muddled thoughts.

"Oh well. We'll figure it out later. Let's just get ice cream and have a good time." I ran to catch up with Fang, Flobie right behind me.

Fang and I stood together at our room's balcony at the Contemporary watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks explode in the night sky. Flobie was exhausted and asleep inside our room, missing out on all the Disney nighttime magic.

"This is amazing. Thanks again for freeing us from the School. Things like this make it worthwhile." I peeked over at him to see if he was enjoying the show as much as I was. I found him looking at our shadows on the ground far below where we stood.

"What's the matter, Fang?" I asked, already knowing. He had let us girls have fun today and hadn't mentioned It's a Small World once the entire time. Flobie said he couldn't keep his mind off of the incident, and yet never once asked to leave the parks. Fang really did care about us, even though he wouldn't admit it out loud.

"My new skill is what's wrong. Why would I be able to turn off the lights? If I was going to blog about this everyone would think it fits me perfectly. It's depressing that everyone thinks I'm that depressing." He blurted out, which surprised me a bit. I'm guessing I was the first person he had opened up to in awhile.

"That _is _depressing. What would Max say right now?" I gently questioned, knowing Max was a touchy subject for him.

He smiled, his eyes glowing warmly "She'd say turning off lights is pretty pathetic and any numbskull knows how to do that."

I laughed. "Well, that's true."

"That still doesn't help. Without Max, life is just darkness." His head fell slightly at the sad thought.

"You know what?" I asked, receiving a curious glance from Fang," I think you have the power to control _light. _Sure, you can make it dark. But really, the light shines through the brightest darkness. Life can be a pit of despair if you let it, especially for us, but just keep thinking of Max. She's just like those fireworks, illuminating which path you take. You're doing this for her. She's your light. "

He rolled his eyes at my cheesy, yet honest opinion and turned to face the fireworks finale. The entire sky was lit up, almost forcing me to close my eyes because of the brightness. Instead of becoming momentarily blind, I looked towards Fang to see him concentrating intensely above the castle. Above the highest spire was one lone ruby firework, lingering far too long in the night sky. Nearly a half a minute later it started to fade away.

"Flips, for once I think you're right" He exclaimed, keeping his eyes where his firework had been.

"It wouldn't be the first time," I smiled, closing the bedroom balcony door behind me.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Back to Reality

"Rise and shine, ladies." Fang turned on the lights to our room using his newly achieved ability. He'd been testing it throughout the night, making the lights turn on and off continually. I think really what he wanted was revenge for It's a Small World because I hardly got any sleep. Still, it was nice being on a cushiony surface for the first time in my life.

I groaned, not wanting to get up. Flobie practically fell out of the bed, overwhelmed by the abnormal intensity of the light that shone from the lamps.

"Turn that down, will you? They look brighter than the sun!" she complained, rubbing her eyes.

"I'm still working on it." Fang admitted, slowly adjusting the lights so they dimmed and didn't look like they were going to explode.

"So we're flying to the School today?" I looked at the clock, which read that it was three in the morning.

"That's the plan. Do you remember everything I told you about this School and what our goal is?" Fang tossed our bags onto the beds, packing the last couple packages of Mickey pretzels he had picked up.

"I just woke up a minute ago, I'm not coherent. Plus my brain is on vacation." I got out of bed groggily, staggering as I stood up. Fang hurled a pillow at me, not helping my balance.

"We are going there to steal a laptop with information about all the other subjects that we need to rescue. We need their location and backgrounds or else we'll never find them. The reason I found you two was because I had information from this other laptop we stole from a School, but that was a long time ago and I never told anyone."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" I started to wake up, mad that we could have been saved a few years earlier from the School if he would have told Max.

"Everyone in the flock has found information about their parents and it was all made up to confuse us. I just never know what information is real or not, but now that I have my own mission it was easy to give it a shot without worrying about what other people think. Who knew you'd be real?"

"Do any of you have parents?" Flobie asked, brushing her hair quickly.

"Iggy found his parents, but he didn't stay with them. Max has parents." Fang answered. Flobie and I both noticed he didn't elaborate on their moms and dads.

"Wow, really? I wonder if we have parents or not. Sorry you didn't find yours, Fang." I wanted to say more or give him a hug for sympathy, but knew he wouldn't want it.

"I'm guessing we all have parents considering we were the first experiments. Dylan was made in a test tube, so we can't rule that possibility either. The scientists that made us didn't work together, so their numbering is a little off." Fang looked away from me, obviously uncomfortable that I felt sorry for him.

In a couple minutes we had everything packed and ready to go. Instead of checking out of our hotel the normal way we just opted for jumping off out balcony and heading for the School. Don't worry, we paid in advance.

"Why is it so humid here!" I yelled above the wind.

"Because-" Flobie started answering me before I interrupted.

"It was a rhetorical question. Knowing why won't make it less humid so I don't really care." I always seem to wake up on the wrong side of the bed, whether I get to sleep in a bed or not.

"Focus. Remember our first step. Once in sight of the School-" Fang reminded.

"We stealthily approach on the ground and find the easiest entrance point." Flobie and I yawned in synchronization. As if Fang hadn't made us memorize the plan word for word.

"Right." He seemed tense. We soon saw the School building, which was surrounded by a huge swamp. A small bridge connected the School to the real world. "Ok, girls, it's time to land. I hope you don't mind walking around in a swamp."

"There's nothing else I'd rather do right now." I grumbled, but followed Fang as he descended.

"Yuck!" Flobie exclaimed, trying to be quiet to be unheard by unfriendly ears. We all attempted to shake off the swamp goop now encasing a good portion of our bodies with no success.

We started walking, which took awhile. Wading through a swamp isn't something I'd recommend to a person visiting Florida. We didn't hear anything in the swamp. It was especially odd not to hear any birds in the surrounding trees. I didn't blame them for not being near the School.

I gasped as I began to focus in on details in the water, "Fang!"

He kept moving, but replied, "What?"

"Don't move!"

He stopped, frozen in place, and assessed the situation. Right then a huge crocodile jumped towards Fang, mighty jaws open, clearly wanting to bite down on someone's limb. The fifteen foot long swamp dweller flailed, stretching its head to sink its teeth into Fang.

Fang leaped out of the water and spread his wings, kicking the beast's nostrils, barely avoiding getting his foot bitten off. If the mood had been slightly calmer I would have ran around screaming, "Danger, danger, danger!" but now wasn't the time.

The crocodile quickly began to move towards Flobie, knowing it had lost its chance to attack. Flobie and I still struggled with take offs without running starts, not to mention we were knee deep in water, so she stood there and waited for him to strike. His teeth, lightning fast, lashed out at her just before she teleported to stand by me.

Desperate for a meal, the reptile became faster. It swam towards us; his limbs sprawled out, and continued to eye us with an unblinking, hungry look. Flobie grabbed my hand and I felt the now familiar rush that comes from teleporting.

After reappearing, I ended up being twenty feet in the sky and panicked when our bodies started dropping. Flobie and I pushed away from each other, extended our wings, and began flapping. The crocodile watched us briefly before sinking back in to the watery depths.

"That was fun." I said.

"No kidding. So what's Plan B?" Flobie asked Fang, who was flying at the same level.

"Not to get eaten." Fang replied.

"Great plan. Last I checked, getting attacked by an animal was under the 'things not to do when trying to be stealthy and not attract attention' list." I remarked, somehow not too shaken by the whole ordeal.

"Very true, but we have to keep trying to get into the School today. This could be our only shot. We're just lucky that crocodile's DNA hadn't been tampered with."

"I don't know. I think that crocodile may be smarter and have more of a taste for bird kids than most." I replied, doubtful that it was a normal crocodile.

"Hey, does anyone hear a beeping noise?" Flobie questioned. We all became silent.

_Beep…beep… beep._

Yeah, I hear it." I listened harder. The noise was starting to sound closer.

_Beep..beep..beep!_

"It's getting louder and faster?" Flobie's eyes widened and we all looked at each other with the same expression. A small projectile came into sight, flying close to the water before speeding upwards directly towards us.

"Move, now!" Fang yelled, soaring towards to School, throwing caution to the wind.

_BOOM!_

A huge explosion sent us tumbling in the wind, blasting us towards the School, over the gates, and smashing us against the hard, concrete wall. I hardly had enough time to feel the tingling burn across my face before impact.

"Everyone ok?" Fang looked at us while standing up slowly. Our skin was a little red from being so close from the explosion, but we fared better than the crocodile which probably now floated belly up in the swamp. "If we hadn't moved we would have been killed. That was a small heat-seeking missile. They focus on animals with very high temperatures like us, like birds. Someone knows we're here."

"No wonder there aren't any birds here. We were lucky." I took off the air ventilation grid that we landed next to and got on my hands and knees, ready to crawl through the wonderful tunnels of the School.

The others followed. Fang gave me directions and we stopped every time we heard a noise, listening to make sure we weren't caught.

"I think this is it." Fang gently removed a piece of ceiling. After checking to make sure the coast was clear he jumped down and landed lightly on his feet. Following him, I saw a room filled with all types of technology related to science. I had no idea what it was used for and really didn't want to know.

"Do you have any idea what we're looking for, Fang?" Flobie asked.

"Any computer. I brought my laptop with me and Nudge taught me how to upload another computer's data with the touch of a button. Just turn all the computers you can find on and I'll be able to load all the data."

Right then we heard a banging on the door, "I knew we smelled birdies! Just in time for lunch!"

Erasers who wanted us to open the door. Like _that _was going to happen.

The Erasers started to literally tear open the door and my flock worked frantically to get every computer going.

"It'll take a couple minutes for this to load." Fang tapped on the keys impatiently, knowing we didn't have a few minutes.

"It's very rude of you not to open the door!" an Eraser cackled, still clawing at the framing.

"Any plans?" I looked to Flobie, who was racking her brain.

"Fang, let's do a disappearing act." Her eyes brightened with hope, making my day. She clued us in mentally on what the plan was.

"Brilliant." I whispered.

One last sickening crunch of the door and it was pulverized and thrown aside as easily as a crumpled up piece of paper. A couple of Erasers hurdled into the room, teeth barred.

"Thirty seconds." Fang announced, getting ready to turn off the laptop from stealing data.

"What are you doing here?" an Eraser demanded as he began to pace towards me, claws in the air, poised to strike.

"Leaving." I pushed a desk into his leg as hard as I could. He howled with pain. His comrades picked up their pace behind him, getting ready to restrain me.

"Fang, now!" Flobie screamed. Sudden darkness enveloped us all. I climbed over desks, scrambling to get to where Flobie and Fang were. Fang closed his laptop, finally done.

The Erasers began bumping into the equipment and each other, trying to find us or a light switch. Confused, they didn't even think to call for backup.

The three of us got back into the air vent, closing it firmly. We scurried through the cramped space so quickly I felt like I was part rodent instead of bird.

"What's that sound?" Flobie whispered as we continued to make out way through the vents.

"Oh God, it better not be another explosion." I pleaded as we frantically scooted towards the exit.

"No, it sounds like a machine warming up. I hear it right below us, along with human voices." Fang breathed.

Right then, the entire vent flowed with electricity. The three of us were jolted and crumpled immediately, unable to continue moving. We managed not to scream in agony and give away our position. Seconds later, the thunderous torture stopped.

"Keep moving." Fang said, getting back up onto his hands and knees, attempting to get the heck out of there.

Flobie and I followed, still in shock, emotionally _and _psychically. Whatever machine that had caused the electricity started humming again, getting ready to send another current through the vent system. I could tell that the higher the pitch the machine made, the more painful the electricity got.

_How many of these shocks can we take before fainting? _I thought, unwillingly buckling and face planting against the electrifying metal yet again. We were so close to being outside, to freedom, but the White Coats powering the machine didn't give up.

The thrumming intensified this time as the electricity stopped. That thing had a higher voltage level? If so, we were doomed.

"Go faster!" I hissed, sweat pouring down my face. We were ten feet away from the exit. We poured on the speed despite our shaking limbs that screamed in protest at every movement. I felt like throwing up from the whole ordeal, but managed to keep crawling.

The three of us fell on top of each other as we crashed outside the building for the second time, scooting away from the source of our pain. We heard the White Coats begin another round of intensified voltage.

Fang held up his backpack holding the laptop, which fortunately had a rubber case. "Let's get out of here."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Are We Dead Yet?

I seriously have no idea how we had made it out of the School. Our endurance was pretty high, obviously, but getting zapped by a bunch of evil scientists who wanted to capture us and/or delete all of the computer files we stole was a lot to handle. The crocodile was nothing compared to what we had just gone through.

Our flying was very shaky. Fang's lips held tightly together and his face was whiter than usual, but he didn't tell us to stop. We coasted on thermals whenever we could and our breathing came in short, painful gasps.

My vision flickered every once and awhile, which worried me. Was that normal for someone who had just been electrocuted? Every time it happened I lost altitude, forgetting to flap momentarily. No one seemed to notice, too lost in their own aches and pains.

Fang dropped suddenly and I saw that his eyes were closed, his mouth parting slightly. Twenty, then forty feet down. He kept plummeting downward, unconscious and about to become a pancake.

"Flobie, we have to get him before he crashes!" I yelled before tucking in my wings and rocketing towards the bone-smashing ground. She followed.

We caught him at two thousand feet to go, but all of our wings mashed together me and Flobie grabbed his body.

"Flobie, move your wings at the same time as mine." I instructed. Synchronizing was easier said than done and the Earth was about to welcome us back. Why did gravity have to work so well today?

We managed to get our wings to cooperate, but there was no way we could hold all his weight and continue flying. Our muscles strained, protesting, from the added bulk. Maybe on our best day we could carry a person, but we still felt like passing out ourselves. The ground continued to get closer, but our speed of descent had become normal and safe.

The two of us put him down as gently as we could, but still managed to knock his head pretty hard on impact. He moaned and rolled over as we came to a screeching stop, tumbling to a halt due to our speed.

"You ok, Fang?" I stood up, legs trembling, and ended up just collapsing again.

"What happened?" he asked, eyes closed. He didn't attempt to stand up, but rubbed his now injured head.

"Uh, you passed out a couple minutes ago while flying so we caught you." Flobie answered, managing to sit up. Dirt was smeared across her face. So much for taking showers at Disney World.

He remained silent, but his eyes seemed a little brighter than usual when he opened them.

"I vote that we stay here and rest. I don't know if any of us are capable of flying right now." I lied down, sighed, and closed my eyes. It was only afternoon and we'd flown about fifty miles away from the School, not nearly far enough away to be anywhere near safe.

"Ok." Fang answered stiffly. He must really be suffering if he was taking suggestions instead of making the plans himself.

"Let's just move somewhere close by with more cover. This area is too open, too dangerous." Flobie commented, standing up and walking towards Fang. Grimacing as I stood up, I followed her lead.

Fang didn't like receiving help, but grabbed our offered hands as we pulled him to a standing position. Limping slightly, he slowly walked over to some trees. Fang took off his backpack, checked to see if his laptop was still there, and then sat down with his side against the tree, wings stretched out behind him.

"No one's around here, Flobie?" he murmured, eyes closed.

"No, I checked already. I don't hear anyone's thoughts. I'll take first watch, get some sleep." She volunteered, being as tired as the rest of us.

"Thank you." He fell asleep instantly.

"Thanks." I agreed, closing my eyes.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: What is Happening?

I woke up fast, almost falling out of the plastic chair I was sitting in. What the heck? A man with a fancy coat and tie hovered over me, clearly mad that I was sleeping in front of a long desk lined with computers.

"Thank you for joining us, Emma." he said with an impatient tone, which confused me even more. Why would a complete stranger know my real name? "Now class, on your computers you will find…"

I didn't listen to the rest of his blathering. All I could think about was why I was here. It seemed like I was at a school, but not a lab type School. I looked around. My heart calmed down slightly after spotting Fang and Flobie in the row of computers behind me, but why weren't they looking at me? We were surrounded by other teenagers our age, clicking away on the computers in front of them and looking bored.

Last I checked, which was before I had fallen asleep, I had been in Florida with Flobie and Fang. We'd gone to Disney World, snuck into a School, and Fang has passed out while flying thousands of feet in the air. We stopped to rest to prevent anyone from falling out of the sky again and now... we're all here?

The plump teacher continued to make rounds, seeing if we were working on what he had assigned. Flobie didn't even send me any thoughts, which she usually did if I'd ever passed out and needed an update. Sadly that has happened pretty often. I really needed to figure out what was going on. Fang and Flobie not even acknowledging my presence could not be considered a good thing.

The bell rang a half an hour later, signaling everyone to leave. I ran out of the classroom into a claustrophobic hall packed with teenagers like me, except they were all wearing fashionable, clean clothes and I wasn't. Flobie and Fang were close behind me. Stopping abruptly, I turned around, making them almost bump into my back. "What's going on?" I whispered frantically, not knowing what to make of our situation.

"We're being held here, Flips," Flobie whispered back, scanning our area for eavesdroppers.

Suddenly I tried to move my wings. It felt like there wasn't anything behind my back at all. I couldn't feel the warm feathers pressing against my skin. My wings didn't flex, didn't move.

Quickly, I ran over all the theories in my head. Theory one: My wings were somehow hurt or restrained, meaning I couldn't feel them, which had never happened before. It felt as if I didn't have wings at all… I cringed away from the thought.

Theory two: I was a normal wingless girl who attended high school, but for no reason in particular I couldn't remember my normal life and instead remember a nightmare life involving cruel experiments. Oh, and my friends and I had weird nicknames and considered this place a prison and are paranoid with people listening in on our conversations.

Since I'm logical I went with option one.

"Can we…?" I started to ask, too lost at words to continue to ask if we could fly. They just stared at me blankly, uncomprehending. Not even Flobie knew what I was talking about, which hasn't happened since we found out she could read minds a couple years ago. "Well, no one can hold me captive. I'm getting out of here."

"No!" Fang exclaimed, trying to grasp my hand to hold me in place, but missed. I ran as quickly as I could through the jumbled halls.

"What am I going to do?" I thought. I kept running, trying to avoid as many people as possible that congested the hallway. I bumped into a few students, ignoring the glares and complaints and kept going. I could practically feel Flobie and Fang on my heels, but didn't look back.

Finally I found a door that led outside. I had to see if my entire life hadn't been a dream! I kept running, jumped as high as I could, and tried to unfurl my wings. This resulted to me falling on my butt, people staring at me, and getting caught up to by Flobie and Fang.

"Are you crazy!" Fang whisper-yelled at me, "There are hundred of humans around and you decided to draw that kind of attention to yourself?"

"Well that was dramatic," Flobie snickered, stopping immediately after seeing the defeated look on my face. Fang took a couple deep breathes to calm down, still upset with my idiotic display.

"Flips, if you would have listened to me for another minute I would have explained everything. We can't use our wings right now. The White Coats injected them with a hefty amount of numbing medicine that makes us unable to even feel them. We'll have to figure out how to escape later, especially before they can give us another dose." Fang calmly explained as he helped me to my feet.

"Well that doesn't explain why we're here in the first place. Where is here anyway?" I sniffed, still trying to make any sense of the situation.

"We're in a high school!" Flobie squealed, causing even more students to stop what they were doing and look in our direction with raised eyebrows.

Fang sighed "Don't try out for cheerleading, please. It's still a prison to us. Some Erasers captured us while we were asleep last night. I was on watch and I didn't even see them coming, oddly enough. Flobie woke up just in time to see them dragging me away, but they must have known it would be more difficult fighting us so they decided to inject you with something so you would stay asleep. That's why you don't remember any of it."

"Oh," I answered. I was sleeping on the job, how typical.

"I'm having a really hard time reading minds still, but besides that I feel fine." Flobie frowned, making her concentrating face as she tried to mentally reached out and touch the minds around her.

That would explain why she never contacted me. I forgot how secure I felt knowing I was never alone with Flobie always there for me. I didn't have any secrets, so Flobie reading my mind was always welcome.

"There is a good reason to be here though," Fang gestured us to lean in closer," There are two other bird kids here. Apparently the White Coats think it's smart to keep us all in the same place." Flobie and I leaned away, stunned that we could be so incredibly lucky.

"How did you find that out, Fang?" Flobie asked, concentrating even harder on the thoughts around her.

"During my watch I started getting past all the security walls of the files we stole. Nudge taught me pretty well, so I found some files about Subjects 7 and 8. They're here, and we're all going to bust out of here together."

"It won't be easy," Flobie stated, "The teachers here are mostly White Coats in disguise. They're the ones who brought us here this morning. If we step out of line, they'll just knock us out again. I'm guessing there are Erasers nearby too."

"Don't look, but those teachers over there are watching us. They must be White Coats. Actually, one looks like an Eraser now that I think about it." I reported after glancing around, not daring to look back at the cluster of adults ten yards away from us.

Fang was facing towards the teachers. "You're right, he looks like a model. I heard a lot of girls gossiping about him before our last class started. Apparently he's new to the school." Erasers were disgusting and repulsive when fully morphed, but actually looked attractive while in their human forms. That's what lured the prey in. They looked harmless, and even their voices were incredibly hypnotizing and could make you do whatever they wanted if you weren't paying attention.

"So why aren't more people staring at us? We're the new kids, right?" I asked, looking at everyone's stylish clothes and backpacks as they walked to their next class.

"It's the first day of school!" Flobie looked excited.

"We're still prisoners here, so keep your guard up." Fang reminded her, still scanning our area for trouble.

"Right, well off to class." I started walking to the building closest to us.

"Actually, our class is in that building," Flobie pointed in the opposite direction.

"Nice work Flips. I say you get an F in navigation." Fang joked, knowing that all bird kids had a built in internal compass. I sighed. It was going to be a long day.


	17. Chapter 17

I gasped, completely in shock. Who knew so many humans existed!

_Cute ones, at that! _Flobie sent to me, smiling lopsidedly. She was staring at one boy in particular. He had light brown hair and sat in a desk pretty close to the teacher's desk. His jacket looked a couple sizes too big. He was reading a book; not even talking to anyone around him like the rest of the kids seemed to be doing to their neighbors who sat at identical desks. The boy held the book with one hand and had the other propped up to support his cheek.

Of course, Fang and I were then stranded at the door as Flobie rushed to take the front row seat by him. Figures, Flobie loved to read and being as close to the teacher as possible. Maybe Flobie and the book worm would get married and have bird worm children! I've seen the combo before, and it just doesn't work out.

"So when's lunch?" I asked Fang as we sat down next to each other. The other students were eyeing us curiously, making me nervous.

"Not soon enough." Fang complained, ending the subject at that. I'll tell you, Fang is not the easiest person to have a discussion with. It didn't look like that guy by Flobie was very talkative either.

Flobie

"Hey," I attempted to start a normal conversation. I was practically wincing as I greeted him. The boy's eyes widened as he turned his head slowly away from his book to stare at me. He looked confused and blinked a couple times, as if he'd just woken up and couldn't think of a reply.

I waited a couple more seconds, but he didn't say anything. Right after taking my seat, the bell rang and the teacher started her English lesson after briefly introducing herself.

I frowned and almost blushed. It made me so mad that I had to stoop to this level, but I wanted to know what he was thinking. I reached out mentally for his thoughts. I expected a soft, unclear voice because of the drugs the White Coats had given me, but his thoughts came in loud and clear.

_Since when do people talk to me here? And her..." _he shivered and I could feel an emotional chill run through his body, "_I need to work on my vocabulary or something. She'll think I grew up in a cage, which is true but that doesn't mean I should have the manners of an Eraser…"_

By then I was so ecstatic that I was bouncing up and down in my seat. A bird kid! No wonder his thoughts were easier to read than a human's. The closer I was to someone, the easier it was to read their thoughts. By far the easiest way into someone's head was to know them well. Flips could be miles away and I could still pick her thoughts up. Fang, well, I was getting a little better with, but this guy's thoughts were coming in perfectly despite that my mind reading was still fuzzy. Why was that?

_Fang? _I called, seeing him nod a fraction of an inch in response. _I think I found one._

I felt his surprise mildly and realized I had a small headache from trying to read minds with whatever chemicals from being knocked out still in my system. I told Fang and he understood, so I closed my mind off, welcoming internal silence.

I found it hard to concentrate on anything the teacher was saying. She was only going over what we were supposed to learn this semester, not that we were going to have the chance to learn any of it. I kept feeling my eyes drift over to stare at the bird kid next to me, feeling ludicrously excited.

Only a few select words entered my mind from the teacher's lecture, "Shakespeare… no vampire nonsense… reviewing today… open yours books to page 187…"

The noise of everyone in the room getting out their textbooks woke me from my trance and I quickly turned to the page she said, feeling slightly embarrassed that I was the last one ready.

"I need someone to read this passage. It's the most famous part of _Romeo and Juliet, _which you all read last year." The teacher said, looking around at all of the students in the class for what most of the students thought was a victim by their reaction. Everyone immediately put their heads down as if it would make them invisible, "You will read Romeo's part. What's your name?"

"Anthony." The boy next to me answered quietly. I was grateful for the excuse to get a good look at him since the teacher had asked him to read. He looked like he'd rather not draw attention to himself, but didn't complain openly about having to read Shakespeare's work out loud.

"Ok, Anthony. And who will be Juliet?" The teacher asked us all. I sat up straighter, hoping she'd let me read considering I was the only one who looked like I wanted to, "What's your name?"

I silently cheered in my head as she looked straight at me, "Amanda."

I smiled over at Anthony and he quickly looked away, not seeming that happy.

"Ok. Start at the top of the page, Romeo." The teacher instructed, holding her own book in her arms so she could follow along.

Anthony took a deep breath,

"She speaks:  
>O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art<br>As glorious to this night, being o'er my head  
>As is a winged messenger of heaven<br>Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes  
>Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him<br>When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds  
>And sails upon the bosom of the air."<p>

I was so consumed with how he portrayed Romeo that I began reading a couple seconds after my cue,

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?  
>Deny thy father and refuse thy name;<br>Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,  
>And I'll no longer be a Capulet."<p>

"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?" Anthony murmured his line, betraying the exact whisper I always imagined Romeo would have as he gazed up at Juliet. I'd never seen the movie or play, but I'd been able to read the script once before at the School.

"Skip down a couple lines." The teacher said.

Anthony continued to the lines after Juliet heard Romeo's voice in the garden for the first time, replying to when Juliet asks who is there,

"By a name  
>I know not how to tell thee who I am:"<p>

Anthony paused slightly at this point and looked at me as he read, 

"My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,  
>Because it is an enemy to thee;<br>Had I it written, I would tear the word."

The teacher stopped us again and started interpreting what was happening in the scene, but I didn't notice. Anthony and I were busy staring at each other. He looked at me with an odd expression I hadn't expected- sadness. As if he was Romeo himself.

The bell rang and I jumped a little in my seat. Anthony looked away abruptly as if he hadn't meant to stare at me for such a long time. Everyone started packing away their things and left quickly, looking relieved that one more class was over. Anthony left without another word.

"Juliet." Flips curtsied to me, smirking.

I smiled weakly, watching Anthony's retreating back.

"You did a wonderful job, Amanda." Fang nodded his approval. I knew he met with finding Anthony and not my superb reading skills.

On the way to the next class I whispered to Flips about finding out Anthony was a bird kid.

"Romeo is…?" She asked, looking skeptical and amused.

"Yes." I replied softly, "We'll see him later today, after school."

"Alright." Flips looked a little more enthusiastic about the next period, but as soon as she sat down she practically slammed her head on her desk and closed her eyes, looking exactly like she did this morning when she was asleep from whatever drugs the White Coats had used on us.

I looked at Fang who shrugged, looking like he wanted to do the same. I sighed and walked to my desk in the front, wanting a good seat.


	18. Chapter 18

Flips

"Hi." A teenager's voice called from above me. I looked up groggily, wondering if I had drool on my face. I'd gotten very close to falling asleep in English class last period and I didn't feel like I should even bother with making a good first impression on anyone here. We were busting out of here ASAP, so why bother?

A girl with designer clothes stood next to me, looking like the just got back from Paris or some other fashionable city. _Why did every girl at this school look like an actual model and how much did they spend on beauty products every year? _I mused, continuing to stare at her.

"Hi." I said back after pausing. Maybe I should head over to the library and read a book about interacting with teens for winged dummies because I was as lost as a penguin on the equator.

"That shirt is so cute!" The girl exclaimed, looking at my clothes. The White Coats had given me some new clothes that I absolutely hated. They'd literally changed my clothes themselves after knocking me unconscious, which grossed me out. I felt like a Barbie doll. I wouldn't be able to fight Erasers without tearing my shirt or pants because they were so tight, just like everyone else's. Sure, I was part of a flock, but I didn't want to be a boring sheep just like every other kid in this stupid school.

"Thanks." I fixed my face into a mask to hide my shock that she liked my clothes and then decided to compliment her back. I figured normal girl talk included a lot of compliments about looks and not how many pushups they could do, "Your hair looks great."

Her hair had all sorts of artificial color streaks running through it. I, myself, was all natural and couldn't imagine the amount of work she did on her hair on a regular basis. I bet if a gale wind blew directly at her that her hair wouldn't even move a millimeter.

She smiled, "I'm Nicole. What's your name?"

"Fl-I'm Emma." Great. Now I sounded like an idiot, forgetting my own name. She didn't seem to notice.

"Nice name. So, bored out of your mind yet?" She smirked, sitting down at the desk next to me.

"Kill me now." I pleaded weakly, as if all my strength had been oozing out of my body all day. She giggled.

"Have a boyfriend?" She asked.

I sat up straight in surprise, "Um, no."

"It's ok. Me either." She started whispering in my ear now, "I do want one, thought. That guy sitting next to you is pretty cute. Maybe he's not taken."

She was talking about Fang. I saw Fang frown a little in my peripherals. He'd heard what Nicole had said with his enhanced hearing. I started clearing my throat to save time on responding, rather amused that she'd noticed Fang's quiet presence, "Yeah, he's ok."

"You act as if you have someone else in mind." She giggled again. Was giggling a constant sound females made? It drove me insane.

"I just know who I'm looking for." I replied. I had two guys in mind, really- the experiments we were after. We'd found one already, so finding the other would be a cinch. Saving the world wasn't exactly a five star resort for romance, so I'd never really thought about the prospect of a boyfriend before.

"Sounds serious." She commented, looking at Fang again, "Maybe I'll go over and talk to…"

I groaned inwardly. Nicole was dead meat, but I had to hand it to her that she looked fearless as she took the walk of doom over to Fang's desk.

"I'm Nicole." She greeted Fang, smiling. It wasn't till after she finished talking that he met her eyes slowly.

"Hi." Fang then looked away as if he was done associating with her.

"What's your name?" She didn't give up.

"Nick." He replied.

"Nice to meet you, Nick. How was your summer?" She kept talking to him and I could see his neck muscles tense slightly, irritated that she wouldn't just leave him alone.

"Dandy." His voice didn't sound remotely dandy and I choked back an immature snicker.

Nicole decided to abort her mission, "Well, class is starting soon. See you around, Nick."

As she passed me she gave me a look that I interpreted as, "Can you believe that guy! He's, like, a total stiff."

I nodded in agreement, knowing too well that Fang wasn't exactly merry. I looked over at Fang who was now staring straight ahead, tapping his foot slightly as if it would make sitting in a desk the rest of the day go faster.

I kicked him slightly, and he gave me a glare that I interpreted as, "First that chick is bugging me and now you?"

It was times like these that I wish I could have conversations in my mind with everyone and not just Flobie, who was busy staring around the classroom in excitement of the prospect of learning.

Fang

I sighed quietly as the teacher droned on about the difference between abiotic and biotic. She had a power point running and the projector gave a dull thrumming sound that reminded me of medical equipment they used at the School.

I suppressed a shiver, tensing up my muscles, suddenly very alert. We'd be going back to the School after public school was over with. My mind started whirring, thinking about all the excruciating pain that always went hand in hand with memories of being at the School.

I glanced over at Flips who was doodling on her paper, not paying attention to the lecture. She looked intensely focused as she finished her crude stick figure drawing. She her hand moving slowly in concentration as if she lived and breathed art, although her stick figure wasn't even worth a dime. It made me smile, surprisingly. It took a lot to make me smile and Flips was such a terrible artist that I couldn't help it.

She sensed me looking at her. Flips stuck out her tongue as she saw my raised eyebrow at her doodle. She turned back to her notebook to continue drawing.

I looked over at Flobie next to discover she was actually taking notes at the front of the class, biting her lip absentmindedly as she scribbled quickly. She was a sponge when it came to learning anything and I was sad to see her mind go to waste. How could a mutant on the run ever have a chance to go to college and have a good life?

Right. They can't.

A twinge of guilt ran through me. We wouldn't be in this mess if it weren't for me and my planning skills. If we'd have gotten into that School in Florida without getting electrocuted we wouldn't be here right now, held captive.

Still, the scientists were stupid for having the two other experiments in the same place. It'd only make it easier for us all to work together to escape.

Then I started thinking about Max. Why did she stubbornly refuse to leave my thoughts? Probably because the Max I loved was equally as stubborn. I shouldn't expect any different.

Being at the public school reminded me of how much I hated how she'd went on a date with a guy from one of her classes. I gripped my pencil tightly in my hands as I remembered that they'd kissed and watched my knuckles turn white. The pencil snapped in two with a slight crunching noise. Flips gave me a fleeting glance, but registered my anger as a sign of being held against my will, not anger for a kiss that happened so long ago.

I looked at the clock. It'd only been five minutes since I had last looked. If only I could speed and slow down time instead of makes lights dim or blaze. That'd make life much more manageable.

If I could have slowed down time I could have spent more time with Max, feeling her body against mine in the rare minutes of tranquility between battles and the flock's need for a leader. If I could speed up time I'd get back to her that much faster, done with gathering up all the experiments and fighting against whoever wants to destroy the planet next.

If I could speed up time maybe I could get back to Max before Dylan even dares to touch her…

I was tapping my foot now. My wings were numb and I couldn't move them, but all I wanted to do now was fly, escape, stop thinking about my first flock and especially about that twerp Dylan and all of his "I was made for Max" crap.

I sighed quietly, switching to a somewhat happier topic.

It was hard not to think about my entire flock when I was here at this school. We'd had to go to school for a while back when we lived with the Director, the evil puppeteer running this whole charade of labs and her plan of killing most of the Earth's population. We hadn't known she was evil then, but it was sickening to know she'd been sleeping in the other room, dreaming of the demise of billions of people.

She wasn't in the picture now when it came to the Schools, Max had seen to that. The Director let us stay at her fancy house, which had actually been kinda nice till we found out she was evil. The only reason why we were stuck there in the first place was because Ari, Max's half brother who had been turned into an Eraser, had almost killed me and I'd ended up in the hospital.

"Who can tell me what the difference between coniferous and deciduous is?" The teacher's voice interrupted my thoughts. It was a middle aged woman with red hair and she actually seemed pretty nice in the classroom setting. Too bad none of us could trust her, "How about you in the back?"

She pointed to me.

Trying not to grimace as at least a dozen pairs of eyes turned toward me, I answered, "Deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall while coniferous trees have needles, which stay green all year."

Flips gaggled at me as she'd never heard my voice before after all this time. I sighed again. I'd slept in enough trees to know the difference between the two different types.

"Very good." The teacher smiled warmly, pleased. She continued her lecture and I continued to sit rigidly in my desk, bored.


	19. Chapter 19

Flobie

The bell rang, signaling for our fourth class to start for the day. I gathered up all the notebooks the White Coats had given me into a backpack, careful to not bend any covers. So far we'd been to a computer class, English, and science. I'd been taking notes, intrigued by everything.

I wouldn't admit it to Flips or Fang, but I was even writing down notes about what normal people look like and how they acted. They'd think I was being silly, but I really wanted to find out what it would be like to have grown up in a normal society.

There were questions I wanted to ask like: What was recess like in elementary school? In health class do we really have to partner up with someone and take care of a bag of flour as if it were a child? Is it normal for people to kiss in the hallways at school or is it considered inappropriate?

I stood up, putting my backpack on my shoulder while compiling a list of questions I'd never be brave enough to ask, knowing someone would figure out I wasn't normal… and I don't mean the 'home schooled all my life' abnormal.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, bumping into someone that was trying to exit the row of desks, "Sorry about that."

"No problem." It was a guy wearing shorts that sagged immensely and I tried not to look repulsed. He was also wearing a baseball cap crookedly and a school shirt that looked really uncomfortable. Did all guys wear tight shirts and sagging shorts like that? He smiled at me and didn't move away.

"I'm Ethan. Have you been to any of the football games?" He asked.

"Uh, no. I don't like football." I said truthfully. Watching sweaty men tackling each other for sport because of a football just didn't seem very fun to me. I saw Fang and Flips gesture to me that they'd be right outside, waiting for me. Flips gave the guy a glare that meant 'if you even annoy her I'll kill you with my bare hands_', _but he didn't notice whatsoever. He was too busy looking at me, which was starting to make me squirm with annoyance.

"Too bad. They're really fun." He looked me in the eyes, "I'm on the team. We were state champions last year."

"Cool." I said, getting even more irritated. I wanted to get to class considering my tardy record was clean. Yes, it was my first and probably last day of school, but that didn't mean I wanted to ruin my attendance.

Ethan still wouldn't move. I frowned, "Excuse me, but I have to get to class."

He returned the frown, "Need help walking there?"

"I'm perfectly capable of walking there myself and I don't need to be escorted, thank you." I tried being polite, but felt a snooty tone in my voice.

"You sound like you're at a tea party or something." He laughed, amused.

"What do you mean?" I stopped walking.

"You're so…" His face contorted, struggling to come up with the right word.

"Refined?" I suggested, going inside his mind a little bit to feel what word he might use.

"Huh?" He looked at me blankly as if I'd just spoken a different language.

Did the school system fail him so badly? I sighed, "Sophisticated?"

"Yeah." His eyes brightened, "That's what you are, sophisticated. More sophisticated than a normal teenager, that's for sure."

I laughed weakly, afraid he'd figured out I wasn't a normal teenager, "Well, I have to go. My friends are waiting for me. Bye!"

And with that I left the classroom, not looking back at him or waiting to hear his response.

Flips

Who knew I would hate regular school almost as much as I hated the lab type School? Not me. You'd think I'd know myself a bit better than that. Besides lunch, which the White Coats had courteously packed for us (Their idea of a balanced diet is an apple and two sandwiches. We burn calories faster than a train burns coal!) the day consisted of a lot of teachers talking away about subjects I didn't care about. I doubt me learning Calculus will help me help Fang help Max save the world.

I bet I would do great on the debate team considering how disagreeable and talkative I could be. Ask any White Coat who's had to experiment on me and I think you'll be pretty satisfied with your answer.

After school we were escorted to the parking lot by a scientist in disguise as a teacher, the very same one who had woken me up this morning. He had one hand in his pocket as he walked, probably tightly gripping something that would make us pass out or electrocute us with the touch of a button. How nifty.

As we neared the parking lot it was easy to see the boy that Flobie had read with in English standing in front of a van. Romeo was staring at the concrete, one hand in his pocket and backpack slung on his shoulder, waiting for his glorious return to the lab. Our arrival made him look up, his eyebrows going up as he first spotted Fang and I, then his gaze shifted to Flobie who was walking slightly behind us. Romeo's face turned slightly red as he looked away.

Fang and Flobie had informed me right after class that he was a bird kid, which shocked me. He didn't look tough and confident like the three of us did. Not that I'd met many bird kids, but it did seem to be a contributing factor to survival.

The Sedan was black with dark tinted windows; it made me feel as if it held evil secrets, which of course was completely true. The whitecoat unlocked the doors to the car, making me almost start laughing at how easy he thought we would cave into demands. Of course this made Fang shake his head enough for me to notice. Trying not to have a panic attack, I climbed into the back.

_We still have to save these two bird kids, remember? His name is Anthony, by the way. Not Romeo. _ Flobie told me, seeming irritated that I had already given him a nickname for his marvelous acting skills. Flobie stared intently at the back of Anthony's chair as if she were trying to see through it. He was buckled up and ready for the trip, already staring out the window with a gloomy expression.

Flobie, Fang, and I put our seat belts on reluctantly, knowing that we could all be heading for our dooms if things didn't work out as planned. Considering our lives, I would say that things not going to our plans happen a lot. I'm just saying.

The drive to the School was a quiet one. The White Coat pretended like we weren't even there, which we were used to and preferred compared to being experimented on. Eventually the ominous Sedan reached the tall concrete walls at the entrance of the School. The gates at security clang shut firmly behind us as we continued to drive.

This School was set up exactly like the one we lived at. It had a huge courtyard outside for the Erasers to practice fighting. The building ahead wasn't very tall; it had two floors including the floor that was underground which made it feel more like a prison. The underground floor was where we were kept. Being underground was torture for us, the kids who had been engineered to belong in the sky.

The building was as large as the Wal-Mart we passed on the way, which is possibly the biggest store I've ever seen. The parking lot sure wasn't filled to the brim as it was at Wal-Mart. There were maybe twenty cars. I have to admit that Wal-Mart was far more appealing than this place.

The Schools were always pretty distant from the towns to make sure they didn't draw any unwanted attention. For example, the last School we visited was in the middle of a swamp, the last place anyone with a brain would want to be. I think the human wolf recombinants standing guard right inside the interior of the concrete wall would freak most people out to the point where they would pee their pants and give them nightmares for the rest of their lives.

After parking the car, the White Coat just grunted and walked away without looking at us. Flobie, Fang and I stood there dumbfounded. So we were held captive in a place where they didn't even decide to lock us up? It shocked me so much I didn't even come up with a sarcastic remark to shout at our chauffeur.

"Hi, I'm Anthony." We all turned our heads to face the new voice. Anthony stood there, unsmiling at us. He watched us cautiously, waiting for our reaction. I guess he expected us to laugh or stare at him as if he was wearing a sombrero and singing about lobsters.

"Hi. I'm Flips and this is Fang and Flobie." I answered in return, pointing at my flock mates. I'd just met the guy and he seemed harder to talk to then Fang. How was that possible?

"Come with me." He instructed, already walking towards the School's entrance. Fang followed close behind, memorizing hallways, entrances, exits, and everything else he could find. Flobie kept glancing at Anthony as she tried unsuccessfully to help Fang remember the building layout.

"So you're just allowed to walk freely around the School?" I almost sighed, trying to figure out the catch to how easy this seemed. He led us to a room with White Coats and they immediately pushed us into cages without even looking interested in us.

It was as if we were bugs being collected by five year olds, except they were locking us away without the childlike enthusiasm. I decided to fire Anthony mentally as our tour guide.

Anthony replied as soon as the White Coats left, "Not exactly. See this?" he unraveled his right sock a bit to reveal a skinny metal bracelet clinging tightly to his ankle. A green light on it flashed every couple seconds.

"This will inject me with a fluid that can paralyze my entire body. It also has a tracking system embedded inside it. Believe me; we've tried to escape and everything. It's mission impossible." He sounded very depressed by that thought, as he should be. Besides, he was talking more easily now. "And who exactly are you three supposed to be?"

"Oh, well we're just you're average bird kids." I smirked as I saw his shocked expression.

He smiled for the first time, and directed his comment to Flobie "I knew you weren't ordinary." She smiled in return, a faint pink color blooming on her cheeks.

"Ok, so who else is here? We already know you're a bird kid as well, sorry to disappoint you if you had a grand way of telling us. As far as I know we didn't see him or her at school today." I asked, doing all the talking for Flobie and Fang.

"His name is Daniel. The tests the White Coats did yesterday on him made him too sick to come to school. He could barely move, so of course they couldn't send him to school. We both hate summer vacation so much; at least during the school year we can be a tiny bit normal." I was about to ask him another question when Fang decided to join in the conversation.

"So, what's your story?" Fang asked. His stare was intense yet gentle, encouraging Anthony to tell us everything about his past.

"Well, Daniel and I have been at the School since we were babies. I guess we have parents, I'm not sure where or who they are though. I know I have a little sister whose ten years old, but I don't know where she is… and she's a bird kid too. I haven't seen her in over a year." Anthony cleared his throat, sounding somewhat distant now. His voice strained to keep the conversation light after mentioning his sister.

"I don't know about you guys, but they wanted to know what we would be like in a normal environment and see if we learned and adapted faster than humans. Considering the School isn't normal enough for this test, they sent us to the local public school where they had scientists in disguise everywhere to examine how we reacted to different things.

They always kept our wings controlled, just like now, and we've never figured out a way past it. They don't clip our wings because we'd still be able to expose ourselves as who we really are by whooshing out our wings at school. That's why they use the injection method."

"We've been going to public school since Kindergarten and it's the happiest seven hours of the day. Just because we're at a normal school doesn't mean we're not being tested as soon as we get back. Our homework is even done for us most the time just so they have more time to experiment." he chuckled weakly.

"That's so sad." Flobie frowned, reaching part of her hand through her cage to brush one of Anthony's fingers. She couldn't reach even though her cage was right next to his. Anthony hadn't seen; he had been too busy staring blankly ahead, probably trying to block out the pain.

Anthony was in his own world, finished talking for now. Fang, Flobie, and I tried to move ours wings. The medicine was wearing off slightly, I could at least feel my wings if I pressed them against the wall of my cage. After that we remained silent, following Anthony's lead.

We had all gone through the same life and trying to block the memories was the only way to escape any of it. As boring as it sounds, not thinking was better than thinking of what horrible sick thing would happen to us the next time we came out of our cages. The dog cage was a sanctuary compared to what Daniel was probably going through right now.


	20. Chapter 20

They brought Daniel in a couple minutes later. He had small red dots covering his entire right arm. It was obvious that the blood had drained from his face because of whatever tests they had just run on him. His hands trembled as the White Coats forced him into his dog crate across the room from us. The White Coats slammed the room door behind them as they discussed Daniel's blood work.

"Are you ok?" I whispered to him, looking worried.

He shot me a curious expression, and then looked over at Flobie and Fang and said to Anthony, "Ok, so they decided to try some new injections on me to help clear up the reaction I had last night. I'm guessing they're making me hallucinate because now I'm seeing other kids in cages. Not to mention that one of them is talking to me."

"They're real, Daniel." Anthony replied as Daniel raised his eyebrows, "They're bird kids, just like us, but were captured by the School and were even at the public school today. That's Flips, Flobie, and Fang."

"Oh I see," Daniel squirmed around in his cage, trying unsuccessfully to get comfortable, "So I guess the outside world isn't all what's it's cracked up to be, eh?" This comment caused me to roll my eyes. I could see Daniel smiling at my reaction. Despite everything he'd just been through I was surprised he had enough energy to joke around with a light tone. His brown eyes were a little blood shot, as if he needed to sleep but was too excited about us newcomers to get some rest.

"Keep your voices down," Fang whispered, and then directed his voice to Flobie. "Flobie, listen up."

Daniel and Anthony tilted their heads, waiting for what Fang had to say next.

_Ok, here's the plan. _Flobie mentally spoke to everyone a couple minutes later, making the two newbie bird kids jump in shock and hit their heads on the chained metal above them. _We're going to escape tonight, right before they come in and inject us with anything that will slow us down or make us unable to fly._

Flobie looked around at everyone, listening to comments. The labs, even maybe the public school, were completely wired to hear conversation and monitor everything we were doing. Just another reason Daniel and Anthony had no chance of escaping alone considering they had to talk out loud to plan. I was impatient and mad for having to stoop to this level to keep our conversation secret.

_You should be glad we can even plan at all, Flips. _She sent to me, and then spoke to everyone as a whole. _It would help us figure out how exactly to escape if you guys could tell us any extra skills you might have. _

Flobie opened her eyes wide and opened her mouth in an inaudible gasp, staring at Daniel. He looked pretty angelic over in his dog crate, so I doubted it could be anything under the evil category. Of course I wasn't exactly sure what fit under that category besides Erasers and White Coats, but I'll start making a list.

_Well, that could come in handy. Daniel can change his molecular structure. He can walk through walls and things like that. _Flobie sounded excited and somewhat jealous, even though she had enough extra abilities of her own.

_What about Anthony? Can he do anything special? _I asked, staring at him. He looked away quickly, obviously feeling awkward.

_His is actually hard to figure out. I can read his mind perfectly, like I can with yours Flips, but I'm mostly just getting memories of what he can do. It looks like he's making things appear out of thin air._

_ What kind of things? _I asked. As weird as it sounds, I could sense Flobie's emotions when she sent me a thought. It was as if she was speaking out loud and I could hear the tone of her voice, and to me it sounded like she got pretty anxious talking about Anthony. I also knew her well enough to know when she got excited.

_Small things like paper clips, little rocks, and pencils. Oh! He has the power to create, he just told me. _Flobie exclaimed, sounding impressed.

_Sounds pretty cool! I just wish he knew how to make more than just paperclips and tiny pebbles. I doubt that's going to stop an Eraser in its tracks._

_ It seems like he's had to see what he's creating to know what it looks like and everything. Considering he only has gone to public school and here it can't be much. Plus, it's a new ability. He's only been able to for a month or so. _She defended him.

Fang motioned with his hand over to Flobie, stopping our conversation. Everyone was quiet a couple of minutes while Fang communicated with Flobie.

_We've got a plan. _Flobie smiled, determination spreading instantly across all of our faces.


	21. Chapter 21

A couple hours later we were ready. Daniel and Anthony assured us that the scientists always came in at 6:15 to give the normal dosage of numbing medicine. It lasted about 12 hours, which meant our last injection had worn off. I could feel every inch of my wings and could move them freely, but kept them pressed to my back to fool the White Coats if they were watching us with cameras.

It was 5:00, time to go into action. Daniel rolled up his jeans and hid himself from the security cameras at the ceiling corners of the room. He touched the metal tracking device on his ankle and it fell right through his ankle, spinning onto the ground of his cage.

He reached to do the same for Anthony's, phasing through the bars of the cage like a ghost to get closer to him. By this time we weren't sure if anyone had heard us or not.

Thankfully Daniel and Anthony had kept their extra abilities secret just like Flobie had. White Coats just loved trying to find out how we work, although they aren't very good at it. For example, they were going to pry us open at the School Flobie and I were from because they figured out she could teleport. There's no need for more experimentation, thank you very much.

Being able to change the molecular structure of others as well, Daniel grabbed one of us at a time and phased us out of our dog crates. When it was my turn I felt a chill roll through my entire body as I went through the bars. I decided it was almost as weird as teleporting.

"Um, guys? Did we forget to mention we can't fly because we never learned how?" Anthony added at the last second, making me smack my forehead. At least I was behind him and he couldn't see my reaction. I could tell Fang was trying not to grimace at the bad news.

"Flobie?" Fang was already editing his plan to be flexible with the new dilemma. The leader stuff sure kept him on his toes.

"Sure, I can teleport them right now. I'll try to get to that Wal-Mart we saw earlier. I will have to go one at a time I think- it's hard enough to teleport with one extra person." She caught on to Fang's plan immediately, grabbing Anthony's hand. He looked astonished, but that was probably nothing compared to what he would look like in a couple seconds. They disappeared without a sound. Daniel shook his head and stared at the previously occupied space in amazement, trying to decide if he should believe it or not.

"She'll be right back for you." I assured Daniel. Fang was already listening at the door to our room, trying to figure out if anyone was outside. Fang motioned for me to follow him as he turned the handle quietly and walked outside.

The hallway was silent. I'm guessing most people went home from work right about now, same as they did back in our School. Only a team of Erasers monitored the hallways at night back at our old School. Hopefully it wasn't such tight security here. Hah!

It was hard to imagine that these evil scientists had lives outside of the School. They could be eating dinner with their kids right now and getting ready to read them a bedtime story, as if they were guiltless people. If only those kids knew.

We went into a room right next door which held our backpacks from school as well as a couple of desks with computers and papers on them. Fang silently went around the room, looking for any helpful items while I grabbed our belongings. I saw him shuffle through some of the scientists' personal things, pocketing all the money he could find.

"These guys are loaded." He whispered a grim look on his face. "Who knew child and animal abuse could earn you so much money?"

He knew I was getting antsy so decided to help me with the bags after finding his laptop which still held a lot of potential help to finding more experiments. We stood near the door, listening for footsteps. Hearing none, we excited and ran as quietly as possible down the hall. It's times like these that you wish your mind reading best friend was by your side to patrol for security.

We ran up the stairs two at a time and came to a halt. I almost bumped into Fang he stopped so abruptly. He turned around; a finger held up to his lips.

"How was the first day of school, Tim? Did you eat all of your lunch and get to have dessert as a special treat?" a man's voice snickered. "Well, not that you need dessert or anything, am I right?" It echoed down the staircase, making me feel like there were people all around us.

"Hello, Harold." Someone sighed. It was the White Coat who had dropped us off here and had woken me up, back to bust me again! We had to stop meeting like this.

"So how are those new subjects, huh? They seem to be in great shape." Harold continued the conversation, unaware that Tim was as irritated as a rabid bear without food. I could basically feel his annoyance coming down the stairs. Tim wasn't exactly a bend-the-rules exciting kind of guy.

Fang stood a step in front of me and had to bend down at least a foot to whisper in my ear. "I'm turning off the lights. Follow me."

Fang closed his eyes and focused above us. I knew the lights had gone out when Harold yelled "Hey, what happened to the lights? Did someone forget to pay the electricity bill?" We ascended the stairs silently, listening to where their voices came from so we wouldn't bump into them. I meant Harold's voice and Tim's grumbles, by the way.

Harold continued to blab on. I could just imagine the exasperated look on Tim's face as we tiptoed past them down the hall. Fang seemed to have put out all the lights down this hallway, so we had a hard time not bumping into anything stacked up along the walls. We could see better in the dark than a human could, but that wasn't helping us too much now in the pitch black.

Eventually we turned a corner to find a lighted hallway and saw where we came in at this afternoon, discovering that we had the worst timing ever. As soon as we made it to the exit, six morphed Erasers were piled through the doorway for their security shift. They grinned at us, showing all their disgusting stained teeth.

"It looks like we've found ourselves a little snack." The lead Eraser drooled, pacing towards us. Fang looked up at the lights, making them fade. The two of us stayed close to one another as we heard the snarls from the Erasers around us, searching through the darkness. We decided to put our backs together so if it came to defending ourselves we wouldn't attack one another like idiots.

The hallway wasn't wide enough for us all to move around freely so we ended up kicking our way slowly through, our hands holding our backpacks and unable to throw punches. Occasionally I would feel the air rush past me and the sound of clamping Eraser jaws close by, missing me by inches. My knee rammed into the attacking Eraser's muzzle, making him yelp with surprise.

We ran ahead towards the doors, bursting through them. A complete déjà vu moment hit me as I found more Erasers outside, except these were less prepared. Maybe it was a good thing that Anthony and Daniel never kept them on a constant watch.

"So long, freaks!" I saluted them and extended my wings, running a couple of steps and flew upward. Fang bounded behind me and hurled himself into the air. My wings still felt stiff, but I could make it easily to Wal-Mart without dropping out of the sky.

The Erasers didn't have their guns ready enough in time, probably expecting us to get zapped by the tracking devices that Anthony and Daniel had worn. Fortunately we'd never received our own million dollar fashion anklets so we didn't need to worry about that.

They scowled at us as we passed over the wall without difficulty, too far away for them to shoot at us. Before getting too far away I glanced down to see them on their communicators, planning on recapturing us somehow. Just escaping from the School wasn't hard enough; we still have the chase waiting.

Fang and I flew quietly, concentrating on getting to Wal-Mart without any problems. I could tell Fang was more relaxed. He could be surrounded by flying Erasers in the air by himself and he would still seem to be calmer than he was on the ground. Flying was his happy place.

We started descending a couple minutes later. Flying was a lot quicker than driving and it helped that this rollback store was one of the last buildings before the uninhabited area around the School started up.

Fortunately by now it was getting pretty dark and landing behind the store wouldn't attract any attention from shoppers. We landed in the back parking lot for employees, running a couple steps before gradually coming to a standstill. I folded my wings and called out to Flobie mentally. She appeared behind one of their numerous dumpsters a minute later with Anthony and Daniel.

"Did everything go ok?" she asked, worry stretched across her face. I nodded, trying to figure out how we were supposed to get away from here without flying. As soon as possible we'd teach them to fly, but right now I'm guessing a massive amount of Erasers were about to show up in a helicopter to beam us up. I'd rather have the aliens have me.

"We need wheels." Fang started running towards a nearby van that was big enough to hold all five of us easily. He somehow managed to hijack it, being so quick to start the engine I didn't see how it was done. I'd have to learn that someday too, I thought as Fang was climbing into the driver's seat.

"Get in." His voice had a steel tone to it as we clambered inside. His hands were already on the steering wheel; his eyes looked determined as he put the car into reverse and backed out of the parking space. He brushed a neighboring car, making a pretty loud metal on metal sound.

Fang put the car into drive. If you ask me, with Fang behind the wheel the D on the shift should stand for "Dangerous". He was all over the place! I was surprised to make it out of the chaotic parking lot alive or without killing anyone trying to enter and exit the store. By then all of us passengers had our seatbelts on as tight as they would go, knowing Fang did not have a driver's license or anything close to one.

"I've hardly ever driven a car." Fang replied to our scared faces sheepishly, looking away from the road to check on me, Daniel, and Anthony in the back. Flobie had taken shotgun, looking like she regretted it now.

"Keep your eyes on the road." Flobie pointed towards the front, trying to keep her finger still. He returned his view to the front windshield and had to slam on the breaks to avoid colliding into the car in front of us. We were stuck at a red light waiting for traffic.

"Do you think you can get this van up to 90 miles per hour?" Daniel questioned earnestly, squished in between me and Anthony. Anthony had his hands dug into his seat, probably trying not to yell at Fang for being such a hectic driver. He gave Daniel a poisonous glare as if to say 'Don't tell him to go any faster!'.

"I don't know. Why?" Fang curiously glanced up into the rearview mirror and blinked in shock.

"We have trouble." Daniel answered solemnly, seeing a Black Sedan pull up to us, the window pulled down to reveal a winking Eraser. The same happened on our other side. A grinning Eraser was staring at us from behind us as well, boxing us in.

"Any of you guys up for a race?" Fang asked as the light turned green.


	22. Chapter 22

As soon as the car in front of us started moving we zoomed into a different lane. Fang punched the gas, making us sink into the backs of our seats from the force. It felt like we were on a launching space shuttle. The School's cars were right behind us regardless of how Fang accelerated. Every car on the road got out of our way, but drivers yelled at us for our reckless street race. The fact was we couldn't afford to lose.

"Think, think!" I yelled silently at myself, hating that I was no help. I stared out the rear windshield watching a Sedan slowly approach us.

"Anthony, have you ever created any big objects before? We need something to stop them." I spoke quickly, trying to hurry. Anthony looked at his hands, frowning.

"We don't have time to think, just act!" I screamed at him as the Sedan hit our back bumper. Fang tried to speed up and switched lanes.

Anthony scrambled to the back and opened the windshield. Now it was easier to hear the roaring engines and the yells of people watching us. Everything outside seemed to blur as we flew through the street.

The Eraser behind was about to ram into us again when out of nowhere a dumpster appeared right in between our cars. We heard their screeching tires as their car slam into the dumpster. The Sedan full of Erasers beside it stopped to help, probably trying to get their team away before the police showed up and started asking questions.

"That was awesome!" I high fived Daniel as we continued to streak down the road. Anthony stayed back there, looking pleased with his handy work. Unfortunately for us one Sedan still followed, not wanting to return back to the School empty handed.

"Can you do it again?" Daniel and Flobie asked at the same time. Daniel looked excited while Flobie looked worried, maybe knowing from Anthony's thoughts that something was wrong.

"I think I can do it once more." He sounded unsure but looked towards the other Sedan that had gotten out of the right lane to follow behind us. Anthony kept staring out at the Erasers, their faces set in a mocking tone to challenge and distract him. Anthony's face started to show fear as the Erasers were closing the distance between our cars to ram us again.

"This stupid van sucks." Fang said between clenched teeth as the van skimmed the curb, leaving a giant black mark as a gift. I wanted to say it was his driving that needed some work, but I didn't want to get my head whacked off my body so I held my tongue.

"You can do it, Anthony." Flobie yelled from the front, looking straight at him with pleading eyes. All our lives depended on it. No pressure!

Anthony squared his shoulder, took a deep breath, and peered out again. The Sedan was still advancing, the sound of it making our van vibrate intensely. Ah, to be in our own Grand Prix.

Anthony yelled "Take that!" as two ten foot long tree trunks appeared out of no where right behind our van. They plopped to the ground instantly and rolled towards our attackers. The Sedan flipped to its back violently on impact, sparks flying everywhere. Fang continued to attempt driving at light speed, still set on getting farther away from the School.

"We should do that again sometime." Daniel relaxed in his seat, his face still pale from all he'd been through today. Anthony looked about the same, if not more tired, although he did look satisfied by creating such large objects for the first time.

"I'm glad I can create more than just the things I've seen at the School. I guess I just needed inspiration. Thanks, Flobie." He sighed in relief, crawling back to his seat and buckling up, still not trusting Fang's driving. I didn't blame him one bit.

"No problem." She smiled, looking up at the stars from her window. The car ride was silent for awhile as we continued down a more vacant street. Fang decided it was time to slow down to a normal speed of about 75. I didn't say normal for humans.

"If you're going to drive that fast just get on the highway." Anthony complained, out of his 'save the day' chipper mood. He was such a rule follower. Fang sighed, deciding to follow his advice to prevent getting pulled over by a cop.

"Where are we heading, anyway?" I asked with our North America map in hand. We'd been all over the South part of the United States it seemed. I showed the map to Daniel and Anthony. They were part of the team now, after all.

"We're going to drive for about two hours towards the Grand Canyon. I was thinking it'd be easier for them to fly there considering it's a huge canyon that's thousands of feet deep. Plus, I've never been there." Fang replied, already on the right road going in the right direction.

We didn't need much help when it came to directions. We all had a natural sense of direction and could figure out how to get places we've been to before, even if we were on the other side of the world. It was like having our own internal compass, and it came in handy.

Fang continued, "After about that much time we need to find a motel. I got about $1,000 from Harold and Tim's desk. They really need to think about putting their cash somewhere with higher security."

We all laughed. For people who were able to create human avian hybrids they sure were stupid. Hopefully they wouldn't learn from past mistakes and send in a team that could take us down, which seemed highly unlikely. Still, a lot of unlikely things had happened. My flock safely, well somewhat safely, headed down the highway farther and farther away from the School.


	23. Chapter 23

Over the next few hours Flobie and I filled our new flock members in about past events and what our goal was. It took a very long time. Our lives aren't exactly boring and everything we said led to a question.

Daniel and Anthony took everything pretty well. They seemed in awe of all we've gone through, happy that they were finally away from the School, and slightly troubled that we'd dragged them into saving the world. We may have freed them from their cages, but they had a debt to work off!

"So after we drive to the Grand Canyon we're just ditching this car, right?" I asked, watching the scenery go by.

"That's the plan." Fang answered. His driving had improved since the Eraser chase. He hadn't almost veered off the road for no apparent reason this past hour. Kudos to Fang! The clock on the dash read 11:30. Out of the city, it was easier to see the stars twinkling above. I silently wished we could have flown instead of using such a boring mode of transportation.

"Is there anywhere close to stop for the night?" Daniel yawned, staring out at the desert-like area we were now in. I heard Anthony sigh; annoyed that Daniel would ask an obvious answer question when for the past hour we'd seen nothing but rocks.

"The map says in a couple miles there's going to be a gas station and a motel. That's perfect." Flobie read the map, sounding more than happy to get out of the van. Fang nodded and kept driving.

My butt was asleep and my wings were cramped from staying still for so long. No one in the flock liked being in small spaces because of our dog crates at the School, which made sitting in this tin can car for hours a pretty torturous experience.

Ten long minutes later we made it to the only civilization for miles. Fang pulled up to a gas pump, almost hitting it, and got out of the car to refill the tank. We all hopped out as fast as possible and moved around to stretch all of our muscles out. I sighed in relief, grinning.

It took a couple minutes for the five of us to figure out how to open the gas tank compartment, but after that it was smooth sailing. We got hesitantly back into the van. Fang parked lopsidedly next to the motel. Before heading inside Anthony recreated the license plate so that the numbers and letters were different to make sure no one could find us.

I could tell this place wasn't glamorous by the way the neon sign that said "Motel" flickered on and off constantly. Fang paid for two rooms- one for the guys and one for the girls. He handed us our key as we walked up the gum laden stairs and entered our rooms separately, saying good night beforehand. The first thing Flobie and I checked out was the mini bar.

"Not as good as the diner's food, but at least it's edible. Can you believe those sandwiches the White Coats packed for us today at lunch? They were so small I doubt a five year old would be full after eating them." I rambled to Flobie, who was busy chewing.

"I know! I've been starving for hours! We'll have to get more food on the way out to pack up for our trip." she sprawled out on the bed, sighing with relief that today was over. "I wish we could go to school and learn, though. Someday we'll have to go back. Not to the same one, but maybe there's one out there that's safe."

"Eh." I almost grimaced, not liking any kind of schools. Learning was awesome, but the subjects they taught there were not. It couldn't have been more boring if they tried.

We took turns taking showers. I kept forgetting what color my skin was underneath the layers of dirt. My hair was more tangled than a briar patch. Being in the sky with the gusts of wind all the time didn't exactly help.

All clean, we fell into bed and relaxed. I stretched my wings out behind me for the first time in hours, glad that I could be myself in this room without any secrets or worries. I turned out the lights and drifted to sleep. The last thing I saw was Flobie smiling with her eyes shut in the other bed, safe and free.

A knock woke us both up in the morning. I groaned and looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was 6:30 in the morning and still dark outside, making our room looks like one of the numerous caves we've spent the night recently.

"Go away!" I yelled, stuffing an extra pillow over my head as dramatically as I could even though our visitor couldn't see us. I was known as a night owl, not a morning person. No, I didn't think about how much I had in common with an owl. It was too early in the morning for activities such as thinking.

Flobie rolled her eyes and got up to get the door. She was in a fractionally better mood than I was. She wore a frown and her eyes were only partially open when she looked at Anthony standing in the doorway.

"Don't shoot the messenger." He greeted us cautiously, looking at me still under the covers, immediately figuring out to stay away from me in the morning from now on. "Fang says we're leaving in ten minutes. He also says no, you can't sleep in another two hours and catch up to us in your normal way of traveling."

_Dang it, Fang knows me too well now._ I thought, making Flobie smile.

"We'll be ready." She assured him. After he left we went into full preparation mode and ended up ready five minutes early. We don't exactly spend an hour each morning applying makeup like the average teenage girl does.

The boys were waiting outside our room already, pressings their bodies up against the railing of the second floor. They all stood pretty far apart from another, gazing out towards the road we'd have to spend another couple hours on.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Daniel waved at me as we joined them. He was either blind or an idiot talking to me this early in the morning with that positive and energetic attitude. I decided to let him off easy with a glare. It didn't change his mood, oddly enough.

"You look better today." I commented, trying to ignore his radiant energy flow that seemed to emanate out of his body. The red dots on his arm had probably vanished last night right after the car chase. There was more color in his face and his eyes were an even brighter shade of brown than before, if that's even possible.

"Yeah, I do feel better. Thanks." He smiled, tracing his right arm with his left hand to feel that his skin was back to normal. Bird kids heal faster than humans. If I were to have a week's cold it would last one day. It works the same with broken bones; they took less than half the time to heal compared to the same human injury.

"Well, let's go." Fang held up the car keys with one hand to signal us it was time to move. He'd already gotten extra supplies from the lobby and had placed them in the van. He was an early riser.

I could almost hear Fang impatience as I got into the van and groaned as loudly as possible. Hey, I might as well give him heck if he won't let me sleep a little. Even Harold let me sleep in class before waking me up halfway through his class back at the high school.

The sky was a beautiful light blue color with patches of fluffy clouds. The rusty colored sand on the side of the road was an interesting contrast to open sky. The scene looked like it belonged on a cowboy postcard. We had our full tank of gas, all of our supplies, and all five bird kids that didn't have driver's licenses. It was a perfect beginning to an all-day road trip.

"I've been thinking," Anthony stated a couple hours into the trip, one of his few moments to talk during the car ride, "do you think you guys can help me find Zee? That's my sister's name. You are already looking for all of the avian recombinants anyway." He kept looking out the window as he spoke.

We all gave Fang pleading, puppy dog eyes until he said, "Of course, Anthony."

He wasn't reluctant at all. Just because Fang was quiet and didn't come over as compassionate didn't mean he didn't understand family. He probably understood it more than we did.

Anthony thankfully nodded, relieved. Hearing his sister's name for the first time left me with questions. Daniel and Anthony were pretty mysterious when it came to their pasts.

"So did she go to school like you guys did?" I looked sympathetic, trying not to make Anthony feel uncomfortable.

Anthony cleared his throat before beginning, "Yeah, she did. It's just that Zee doesn't like being told what to do very much. She didn't try to get good grades. Zee didn't like to participate in the classes, and if she did she would do what she thought was creative and smart, not the assignment. Zee even refused to be called the name they gave her, Sarah, because it was too normal. She was too out of control to keep attending, so they sent her away.

"They didn't tell me where she was being taken, but I'll never forget the faces on those Erasers that took her away. They were happy that she was being separated from me. I'd never been angrier. I ended up trying to fight them. Being outnumbered, I ended up getting beaten up and knocked out when my head slammed into a desk. The last thing I could remember was Zee screaming. I haven't seen her since."

My eyes were watering and I knew Flobie was pretty close to crying as well. Fang and Daniel's faces held grim expressions as they listened. Even though Daniel wasn't even related to Zee, he looked just as pained as Anthony.

"She was like a sister to me too, Ant." Daniel spoke quietly, answering my unspoken question. "We'll help you get her back."

With that topic over we abandoned conversation for a long time, not wanting to disrupt the elongating silence that dragged on for what seemed like hours. I would have to say we had driven by millions of boulders before I attempted to start a conversation again.

"What's with your normal names anyways? Daniel? Anthony?" I asked curiously because of how ordinary they were. I tried not to laugh since everyone else was still in grim and impatient moods.

"Excuse us for having normal names for people who go to school. I was going to ask the same question to you three." Anthony stared expectantly at us, a slightly crabby tone appearing in his voice. I didn't blame him with being upset about not having his sister here.

"I picked out my name myself." Flobie replied, happy someone would notice her name was unique. She paused, glancing at everyone. "I have no idea what it means, but it's just 'me'.

"Flips picked out her name because she can do flips, like a gymnast. I don't know if flexibility counts as a skill if it's not inhumanly flexible, but she's a pretty good tumbler. And Fang I have no idea about." We all turned to face Fang who had yet to comment on his name.

"I picked it out myself. Just like Flobie said about her name is the same for me I guess." He shrugged, still watching the road. Name picking was very tedious work, I'll tell you.

"Well you guys have all the fun." Daniel rolled his eyes. "If I got to name myself I'd be excited. Instead it had to be one that didn't attract attention. If you ask me all of your names scream 'Wahoo! I'm a bird kid!' "

"I like your name." I thoughtfully remarked feeling slightly embarrassed as soon as I said it. I quickly added on. "I like yours as well Anthony. They're not that common of names even for humans, right?"

"Not really." Anthony sighed, pressing his forehead to the glass. I'd have to say he's the most depressed guy I've met. We'd have to find Zee pretty soon.


	24. Chapter 24

"We're here." Fang's eyes shown with a sparkle of gold as he stared at the Grand Canyon below us. Good thing too, I thought. We were just about to run out of gas for the van. I jogged up to the side of the Grand Canyon and peered down.

It was enormous, stretching as far as the eye could see from left to right. At deep as it was, we could make out the bottom easily with our raptor vision. It was an amazing sight.

Soon all five of us were standing a couple feet from the edge, Daniel and Anthony a couple feet behind us, hesitant because they didn't know how to fly and didn't want to become pancakes at the bottom.

"How's the view?" Daniel questioned, standing on his tip toes to pretend he could see down.

"Not bad." Fang answered, turning slightly to face Flobie with an almost pleading eyebrow raised.

After a minute Flobie responded, "No one is around this area for miles. We're safe here, go ahead." She winked as she shrugged off her jacket so she could unfurl her wings.

As fast as Flobie was getting ready, Fang had her beat. His black wings expanded like sails as he leaped off the cliff with extreme speed. It still took my breath away, watching his graceful flying.

Flobie was next, her white and brown wings unfolding. She decided to face backwards and fall with her wings towards the canyon wall, eyes closed. She was starting to be a show off, I thought, as the boys gasped at her daring fall. I could hear her replying laugh echo inside the canyon.

Grinning, I started running towards the edge of the cliff. A couple feet away I hurtled and punched the last remaining foot of the cliff and did a front flip before unfurling my wings. The air caught them and I ascended towards the clouds.

_And you call _me_ a show off_. Flobie sent me. I could see her below, closer to the vegetation at the bottom of the canyon. I smiled in acknowledgement and closed my eyes, letting the tranquility of soaring wash through me.

Humans had the right idea with wanting to fly. It is the most miraculous experience. Too bad humans needed hulking pieces of metal to get them places up in the air. They looked like death traps that people paid to get on.

Practicing everything Fang taught us, I decided to give Daniel and Anthony an air show. Soon they'd have to be twisting through the air to avoid projectiles, hurling themselves to the ground, and landing without falling over.

The sun was about to set by the time we finished up. Our hair was all extremely messy as we walked over to Daniel and Anthony. Fang wore his rare smile as he looked at Daniel's excited expression and Anthony's nervous one.

"Flips and Flobie will be teaching you both how to fly tomorrow. I'm going to need to leave for more food soon." Fang instructed us like he was a football coach or something. I tried to swallow my giggles as I pictured him on a sports field and tried to pay attention.

He continued, "Listen to them and do what they tell you. It could save your lives. Stick together, especially if someone comes after you. I won't always be here to babysit you." His black hair was still sticking up in odd angles from flying. He grabbed a backpack and with a short running start took to the air becoming a tiny blot on the horizon.

After a couple minutes we had a fire going. All of us sat quietly, trying to get used to us as a group. Strangely enough it felt like Fang held us all together like he was some sort of gravity. Even though he barely talked or gave his advice, he felt like the center of the flock that we all trusted.

"I guess it's time for bed. You guys have a lot of work to do tomorrow." I tried to sound like I had authority. When it was just Flobie, Fang, and I it was hard adjusting to not being the leader and making decisions. Now it was hard transitioning back.

Flobie cheerfully said goodnight and went to lie down quickly. Anthony and Daniel exchanged looks before mimicking her. I guess taking orders from a girl didn't suit them.

_We all have a lot to get used to._ I thought, trying not to yawn. I had first watch with Fang gone.I watched over the three kids protectively, for once not losing my alertness as the night dragged slowly on.


	25. Chapter 25

"I don't know about this..." Anthony stammered as he approached the last five feet of the cliff edge. His face was a chalky color and his lips were pressed in a hard line.

"You can do it," I encouraged, getting excited about falling over the edge to feel the rush of adrenaline and wind. Looked like a good place to learn how to fly to me!

Waking up early this morning, Anthony, Flobie, and I had gotten an early start to the lesson and were standing out on a cliff ledge. "You've got a great place to learn, too. Flobie and I kind of just winged it, get it?"

I heard Daniel's laugh from behind me and turned around. He walked towards us at a leisurely pace; not seeming to care that he was late for his first lesson. At least he had a good sense of humor.

"You know Daniel, Fang left us in charge of your flying 101 class so that makes us the teachers while he's away. I'm guessing a lot of your teachers at that school we were captive in didn't like it when you were late to class either."

"No, they did not. Good to know that you're strict with tardiness." He smiled at me.

"If you missed lesson tip number one, flap your wings, you would have had a lot of trouble not dying." I added dryly.

"I would have been completely lost without that wise fact." Daniel thanked me, shrugging his shoulders to extend his amazing dark tan colored wings, "So, what's the real first lesson?"

It was extremely hard not to stare at his wings. They were 15 feet across when he had them out fully. I felt so sorry that he hadn't gotten to use them yet in the sky.

Flobie kicked me gently so I would continue, knowing I wasn't focusing on the lesson at all anymore. "Right, well as long as you remember the basics, flapping of course, you're instincts will kick in and it will be a piece of cake. We will push you off the cliff and-"

"WHAT!" Anthony yelled, backing away from the edge, almost tripping and getting closer to falling in the process. "You didn't say anything about pushing us into a thousand foot deep crater just to fall to our dooms!" Daniel and I just stood there looking amused, not sure how to deal with someone afraid of flying when it was such a natural ability.

"Actually it's the perfect place to learn how to fly. You have plenty of time to figure it out before you reach the bottom. It's very safe. Plus, we're not pushing you off a cliff to fall. You're going to _fly_ because you're part _bird_, just to state the obvious." I countered, looking at his wings that were folded neatly behind his back.

"Daniel, if someone told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?" Anthony asked, looking exasperated. He really needed someone on his side of the argument.

"I most definitely would. That's practically what we are doing, Ant. Besides, I trust Flips enough not to get us killed." He replied, raising his eyebrows as he looked at the bottom of the canyon.

"Thank you?" I wasn't sure if I should be offended or flattered. Daniel made a whistling sound as if something was plummeting into the canyon's depths. Maybe it was Anthony's confidence level, because he seemed to get even whiter as Daniel's whistling got lower.

"I hate heights. It sounds ridiculous, but it's true." Anthony admitted, looking down at his shoes. Oh what a sad bird kid oxymoron he was, afraid of heights! By the way, the word oxymoron is about the only thing I learned in English class. I'm glad I put it to good use.

"Anthony, can I show you something?" Flobie waved him over to where she was standing. "Sit down; I want you to know what it feels like to fly before you actually do it. Just to remind you, I can send thoughts and memories to you as well as read minds, so maybe you'll get an idea of what it feels like and what to do when you're in the air."

Anthony gave a worried look to Flobie as he closed his eyes and gasped as she flooded his mind with her thoughts. I could just picture the memories and the feelings she was sending him. How it felt to catch a thermal, how to push your wings up and down with as much force as possible to reach unexplored heights, what the rush of wind felt like on your face and feathers.

"Hmm," he opened his eyes a couple minutes later, still looking a little unsure. He barely relaxed his shoulders as he silently reviewed his list of options.

"See? It's easy. You can do it. There's no pressure. Like Flips already said it's not like we're going to have you shot at and everything like our first time." Flobie assured, taking his hand and helping him up.

"I think so." he mumbled, getting closer to the edge of the cliff. He unfolded his wings more, shaking them out so the feathers aligned into the right places. The wind blew softly, tickling our skin as we prepared ourselves.

"Ok, well now that everyone's ready and you've also had your demonstrations, let's all jump off the cliff together, shall we? Or do Flobie and I have to push you both?" I joked, placing my feet firmly a foot away from the edge. I thought I heard someone say the words "mass suicide" but ignored them.

"Jump on the count of 3. 1…2…3!" I hurled myself over the edge, plunging a good hundred feet or so before unfurling my wings and soaring back up. That was the way to free fall! I closed my eyes as the sun warmed my wings. My feathers waved in the wind, seeming as carefree as I felt.

I saw Flobie following Anthony who was busy flapping his white wings frantically but powerfully so that he didn't lose altitude. I decided to help Daniel who was gliding a couple hundred feet below me. I tucked in my wings and dived.

"How's it going?" I yelled above the wind as I reached him.

"It's going!" he grinned at me, wincing as we hit an air pocket. He seemed to be doing alright, not running into any of the canyon walls or plunging to his doom.

"You're doing great," I commented, "But can you do this?" My wings streaked upward and I could tell Daniel was following me. I rose about two hundred feet before looking to see if he was still close by. He was actually keeping up, what a surprise. I tucked in my wings a bit and plummeted, feeling my hair stream across the back of my neck.

A couple of seconds before I would have sank into the forest, I opened my wings to their full size and surfed across the tops of the trees without hitting any branches, landing in one with a newly achieved elegance. I needed to thank Fang again for teaching me.

A couple seconds behind me, Daniel was about to hit the tree. He put his ability to use; instead of being flattened like George of the Jungle he ended up sailing right through all the branches and leaves as if he were a ghost. That must come in handy.

"Not what I had in mind, but you didn't die as Anthony predicted, did you?" I laughed as he tried to land on a branch close to me. He looked like a ballerina as he tried to steady himself on his tip toes, keeping his wings out wide for extra balance.

"No, I didn't die. This beats school any day. I think I did swallow a bug though. You should have included a section about keeping your mouth closed in the instructions." He chuckled along with me.

We spent the entire day practicing flying, landing, taking off, and flying some more. Anthony had gotten over his irrational fear and Daniel was flying almost as well as me and Flobie.

It really surprised me how different Anthony and Daniel seemed from each other. They both could learn at a fast pace, Anthony with academics and Daniel with physical activities such as flying. They didn't share the extreme bond that Flobie and I had. Maybe it was because they were in separate classes most the time and only together during the summer, holidays, and weekends. Or maybe it was just a guy thing and I over think.

Fang returned with dinner from his shopping spree and we ate around a campfire. It relieved a lot of pressure that he returned without running into any trouble. Plus, as an added bonus, I had been the leader for a day without any mishaps. Our now large flock slept peacefully that night, enjoying our newly achieved freedom and friendship.


	26. Chapter 26

Mason

Mason would never tell anyone, but Flips was his favorite experiment. She was a challenge, always coming up with a new witty remark or a new offensive attack that would astound him. Not that he would ever let her know.

Flobie could fight, but she was a wimp. His own nickname for her was Jedi. She could read his thoughts, which made fighting turn in her favor, but it was completely boring and pointless, like fighting against himself with all of her mirror image copy moves. Besides, Jedi weren't even supposed to like fighting, which described Flobie completely.

He'd never encountered subjects 7 and 8 before, but they didn't look so tough. Mason clicked through the saved footage of them learning how to fly. They thought they were so special, being up in the sky away from the rest of the world.

They think they've been abused, he thought. At least they get rewards from it. You don't see any Erasers in that same delightful stage those bird kids are in because of what they've been made in to.

I'm only supposed to live for four to six years, Mason thought, shivering. I've been turned into a monster with no chance of survival. That's how Erasers have been since the very beginning, while Flips and her friends were built for survival, to even outlive the world.

Erasers suffered through training and the only reward they ever got was punishing the other experiments, making them suffer just a tiny bit as much as they did every day. That was hardly the same reward as flying away from a rotten life at the School. Mason was about to get his own reward. He smiled.


	27. Chapter 27

"And then you restrain their chest with your arm like this." Fang moved his arm across my collar bone, "And it only takes a little pressure for them to go down."

Fang demonstrated, hardly tapping me before my body slammed into the grass. I refused to gasp out in shock and pain and instead got up quickly. He'd been showing us easy ways for defending ourselves in where the opponent's own force was their own demise. Flobie was ecstatic about not having to punch and kick, but instead just dodge and push. I would have loved the lessons more if I hadn't been chosen as the class guinea pig.

"Fang, can you demonstrate that one more time?" Daniel asked innocently from a couple feet away where the rest of the flock was watching Fang beat me up. I shot an icy glare at Daniel and he smiled. He'd asked on purpose just to see my face in the dirt another time.

Fang made me aim a punch at his face again. My lips pressed tightly together, I hurled my fist right at his nose just for his hand to sweep my arm out of the way and his other arm to restrain my upper torso and force me yet again onto the ground in less than a second. As I got up, I heard Fang's voice, "If your opponent is stiff and tries to fight you it'll be even easier to subdue them."

Fang had made us practice all sorts of self defense moves, like dodging kicks and punches, getting out of deadly bear hugs and choke holds, and what to do if you're on the ground and someone's coming at us. Fang continued to give us 'life or death' advice, "If you're on the ground something bad has gone down. You _have_ to keep on guard. _Never_ let someone get on top of you. Offense is the best defense. And above all else, don't fight fair."

All of these phrases were repeated over and over, each word buzzing in my mind, reminding me of our short time in public school where all of the teachers' lectures blended together into a confusingly boring jumble of unnecessary information. The only difference was that some of this advice could save my life someday, unlike knowing the reaction sea monkeys have when exposed to different chemicals. Yes, we did learn that in science that one day at public school and yes, it gave me the chills to watch those little shrimpy things curl up in agonizing pain.

Flobie and I continued our flying lessons with Daniel and Anthony to try and achieve a greater sense of stability in the air, not even close to how graceful Fang was yet. Fang made sure we were all trained in combat, sometimes surprise attacking us when he was not having official lessons. I still had a weird 'lose my balance and fall over' reaction to those, which Fang promised he would get rid of.

Oh joy.

It was nice to share pain with a couple of guys who weren't used to getting any exercise. They tried not to complain at all about their training, especially since they knew Flobie and I had gone through the same thing, but Flobie would share some of their louder thoughts with me and I couldn't help but snicker at their desperate pleas for Fang's torture to end.

_If only they'd actually had made us participate in Physical Education. _Anthony groaned after a particularly nasty crash into the ground from a landing. _Maybe then I'd actually be slightly coordinated._

_My arms feel like noodles. _Flobie told me Daniel had admitted to himself. _Noodles in need of some marinara sauce and some garlic bread sticks. Maybe I wouldn't mind them being like noodles so much if I had that. Is that really so much to ask for to make up for my lack of feeling in my limbs? _

Day by day we became a stronger team. We practiced flying, fighting, and street smarts. Everyone but me would practice their extra talents, making me feel kind of left out. I would watch nearby, trying not to be envious.

Flobie could teleport with a higher endurance and Daniel could now faze two extra people through a solid surface. This includes living things such as me, which also made me fall over constantly. Anthony could create boulders as tall as himself, smiling proudly every time he managed to achieve his new feat. Fang even improved on making lights brighter and turning them off at will which he practiced carefully with the laptop screen. It was truly astounding to see their concentration being pushed to the max every day.

What surprised me even more was how well everyone got along. Anthony still needed a lot more coaxing out of his shell, or should I say nest, but Daniel was especially easy to get along with. Both of the boys worked hard and Fang obviously approved of them.

We'd moved our camp into an area near the Grand Canyon with lots of trees. To be better protected we slept in the trees. Flobie, Fang, and I got more sleep now that we had five watches to split instead of three.

Each night we fell asleep quickly, drained from becoming stronger and more capable of saving the world.


	28. Chapter 28

I yawned and felt around me, trying to remember where I was. A rough, flaky surface was under me. I registered the fact that it was bark very slowly, yet again hating that I wasn't an early riser. By then I'd remembered I was in a tree and late for whatever Fang had planned for this morning.

I stood up, brushed the specks of brown bark off of my body, and stretched before jumping into the sky. I glided down to the ground lazily, jogging a bit on my landing so I wouldn't stumble. It was too early for falling.

The others were already starting in a clearing not far from our home in the trees. I was just in time to here Fang say, "We'll have to leave here in the next day. It's never safe to stay in the same place for very long. Now that everyone is ok with flying we need to pack up and leave."

"Leave to go where, Fang?" Anthony asked.

"I'll tell you later." He avoided the question, meaning he was either keeping it under wraps as a fun surprise or he had no idea. I doubted it was a fun surprise.

Suddenly, we all straightened out of our casual posture and listened. A rustling sound rippled through the ring of greenery around the clearing. Eyes shone in the darkness, coming closer to where we huddled. We tensed, waiting.

Erasers drifted towards us, deathly quiet except for one. He seemed unable to control his trembling caused by the excitement of finding us.

"We'll erase you!" the overly excited one cackled as if he were the most comical part man part wolf on the Earth. The rest of his team didn't even chuckle weakly in agreement. They were too focused on their prey to really listen to him.

_Fang wants to grab our stuff before we move on so only U and A if we're losing. _Flobie informed us mentally.

"So this is what being trapped feels like!" Daniel smiled easily while the rest of us glared at the wolf-like men stalking towards us at a slow pace, biding their time. I looked up to see that Daniel's eyes were colder; the joking was meant as a trick to fool the Erasers into letting their guard down.

We were forced to go back to back to keep all of the Erasers in our sight as they continued to get closer. Fang suddenly yelled, "Daniel!"

Daniel started sprinting full speed at the Eraser with the bad wrestling lines. Expecting to collide with Daniel, the Eraser pulled back his claws to try to rake Daniel's face. Instead Daniel ran right through him. In response, the Eraser wheeled his head about, confused. Grinning, Daniel became solid and tackled the Eraser to the ground. That's when chaos started for the rest of us.

Fang and Anthony were fighting back to back while Flobie and I had gotten too far away to help each other. I kicked an Eraser in the gut, hopping over his crumbling body just to find him getting up right in time to give me a piggy, or should I say, wolf back ride. I tightened my legs around his neck, making him choke; just managing to jump off before his claws would have begun slicing at my legs.

Another one sprinted at me at full speed. I jumped out of the way and his bulk prevented him from correcting his course as quickly as he needed to. Growling, he turned back around and aimed a kick at my side. I grabbed his leg under the near with one arm and with the other I pushed his chest sideways and downward, causing him to collapse instantly. I kicked him ruthlessly in the head, causing his muzzle to draw blood. He was out for the count and I continued running to help my best friend and make sure she was safe.

I kept trying to get near Flobie just to find another angry, stinking Eraser blocking my path. "Flips!" Flobie cried out in despair, making my heart stop momentarily. I circled my foe, peering around to see Flobie being ganged up on by three Erasers. She could read minds and see what moves were coming, but she couldn't decipher that many at the same time. I breathed deeply, trying not to be scared.

"I'm coming!" I promised, already passing my last opponent who was struggling for consciousness. I was surprised that Flobie hadn't just teleported out of the battle. Maybe she was too tired or thought she shouldn't abandon us.

"Good luck trying to get past me, Flips." Mason snarled, blocking me from Flobie. I hadn't even realized he was a part of this mission. He looked out of control, his hairy claws clenching and unclenching. Mason looked prepared for an all out brawl. "We're going to fight, and you won't beat me this time. Or should I give my team the ok to kill your little friend over there?"

He looked over his shoulder and nodded his head. By that time I had pushed past Mason to go help Flobie. I was almost there when I saw an Eraser slash her right arm, blood immediately gushing and splashing to the ground. Flobie shrieked in agony, struggling to get free, her arm continuing to bleed, staining the Eraser's claws.

"No!" I screamed, causing the Erasers who were still standing to turn towards me- fresh meat for their large appetites. I glared at them, letting my anger build up inside me. A peculiar, flowing power stirred in my mind. It warmed my entire body, especially my fingers.

I practically roared as I held my hands out towards the Erasers holding Flobie. I felt the energy gather at my fingertips and leave my body as the three Erasers each flew five feet backwards into the air before tumbling to the ground, leaving Flobie lying down motionless in front of me.

I turned around to see Mason and repeated the same thrusting motion with my palms facing him. It looked as if he was perfectly fine until what I imagined to be an invisible train rammed into him, making him slam onto his back.

He got up quickly, the rest of his pack leaving without him. Mason growled, "I'm glad to see you're learning new things out here in the real world, Flips. It's a good thing too, because next time you won't win." I watched until he faded into the forest, too far away to be seen.


	29. Chapter 29

After staring at my palms for a brief second I sprinted over to the trees where Flobie had been injured. The boys were surrounding her now protectively, making me realize that we all had each other's backs now.

"Let me see her." Anthony whispered. Everyone stepped back to reveal Flobie and her bleeding limb. A deep gash split her skin on her right arm. Her left hand was covered in blood from applying pressure before she fainted. Fang had just finished cleaning the wound with our first aid kit as Anthony knelt beside him.

"Can you help her?" I asked gently, not wanting to ruin Anthony's concentration. Anthony remained quiet, moving his hand so that it hovered an inch above the cavern of the wound that extended from her shoulder down to her wrist.

A minute passed before anything happened, but slowly I could tell the skin around Flobie's wound was crawling to cover the open cut as if it were alive. Anthony slid his hand slowly down her arm, commanding the new skin follow his path. His hand trembled as the skin closed completely shut.

I gasped and squatted down to their level to run my hand over Flobie's skin. It was exactly the same texture and color as her old skin, maybe even a bit smoother. I stood up to thank Anthony, "I'll never be able to repay you. That was amazing. I'm so glad you're here to help. How did you do that?"

"Well, I have the power to create. I guess it's getting stronger and I'm learning how to properly use it now." He sounded shaken, which reminded me of when Flobie had teleported us both out of the School for the first time. I felt a little out of it myself, still trying to figure out what I'd done to throw the Erasers to the ground.

The others had all been too preoccupied to see what new ability I had. I didn't have enough energy to show them, if I could, again right now.

"You need to rest as well, but with all the Erasers so close we need to move. Can you fly?" Fang questioned Anthony patiently, his face calculating. Being the leader he always had to have a plan. I'm guessing sometimes he just made it up as he went along, but Fang did a pretty good job at keeping us alive so far.

"What about Flobie?" I looked down at her tired face, still passed out from the shock of her injury. "She lost a good bit of blood and won't be able to fly even if we wake her up."

"I'll just have to carry her. I've had to catch Max from falling out of the sky before." He frowned painfully, remembering. "I've also carried a huge Malamute dog, don't ask, so hopefully we'll find somewhere to rest before I keel over."

"I'll fly under you just in case." Daniel offered, getting ready to take off. Anthony spread his wings as well, taking a running start before jumping clumsily into the air, still not completely perfect with every aspect of flying.

Fang picked up Flobie slowly, not looking too happy, but somehow ended up in the air despite the extra weight. Good thing Flobie was a skinny little bird kid.

We ended up a couple miles away from where we were attacked in the opposite direction that they disappeared, most of us too exhausted to continue, especially Anthony and Fang who had expelled so much energy helping Flobie. I took first watch for once while the rest of them went to sleep.


	30. Chapter 30

Mason

Mason yelled, throwing his fist into the wall of the School. Everyone around him winced at his claws broke through, dust clouding the area. White Coats continued on their way, pretending as if Mason wasn't there.

_So Flobie wasn't the only Jedi. _Mason thought, pulling his hand out of the wall. He studied the chips of wall embedded into his fur. Shaking the debris out, he continued to stalk around the hall, too upset to stand still.

His rage was as uncontrollable as a volcano. Mason's emotional always broiled so close to the surface, always about to erupt even at the smallest of disturbances. This had been a side effect he had had to adjust to- his fast paced growth that only Erasers had. Even so, Mason knew what he was- a walking time bomb. He was ready to explode emotionally, physically, or even literally at any given time.

The newest batch of human lupine recombinants had come out with being able to shut down their emotions, but they killed everything they touched, unable to control their wolf instinct which dominated their consciousness.

Because of this, Mason was glad he had emotions at all, but still longed to be normal like humans. He sighed, calming down slightly after his thoughts of Flips had subsided. At least he could practice being normal now with his most recent irksome memories. Mason thought back to his last battle with Flips and how shocked he had been to suddenly be on the ground, yet again in the dirt.

Flips now had the power to throw people without touching them. Mason had no idea what else she could do just by lifting her tiny breakable hands, but he bet it would make fighting her that much more of a challenge.

Not only had she developed some sort of telekinesis, but she had also picked up on some new moves that caused whoever to face her to find themselves on the ground with Flips standing triumphantly over them, not even sweating. Mason had seen her in action, had seen her become stronger in such a short time. He practically drooled, longing to fight her again.


End file.
